Crap. I heard that in Everett McGill’s voice. I fucking hate what David Lynch did to Dune, but it’s like some insidious virus lying dormant in my brain.
It is by will alone I set the fuckery in motion
It is by the juice of Etsy that hellephant loses the ear, the ear acquires stains, the stains become whimsicle
it is by will alone I set the fuckery in motion.
It took me until today to realize that your name is Geisha with an upside-down g. This whole time I’ve been reading it as “six name of Mohammed’s wife” (although I that was spelled differently.)
To be fair, bra sizing as we know it is fucked up, and 34D is actually not very big. More specifically, 34 isn’t as teeny tiny as Victoria’s Secret wants you to think!
Well, my ancestors DIDN’T kill them. Half were in Italy, half were Amish. The latter being pacifists who refused to fight back even when attacked and in one incident kidnapped by Native Americans (it was some of my family members, in fact, who were killed).
So do I get a free pass? Of course not.
Cultural sensitivity shouldn’t have anything to do with something one’s ancestors did (or didn’t do). It should have to do ONLY with the desire not to cause further pain to a fellow human being who is suffering from past or current trauma.
We shouldn’t take credit – or blame – for anything our ancestors did. The only thing we’re responsible for is what WE do. And we’re all equally responsible for sensitivity just by virtue of being members of the human race.
No, you see, the problem isn’t just that the First Nations were killed, its the continued efforts destroy their cultures(which was successful in many cases), and the cheapening of it into a parody of their traditions.
The ENTIRE issue here is the very real struggle of cultural appropriation, abuse and oppression that continues even today. Ignoring and denying a very effective Genocide is no way to heal the wounds left by it.
I’m surprised I got a comment and will admit I’m taking some hostility on you because in the post of one of the artists complaining about being featured there were maybe two mentions of cultural appropriation.
Wow, I got so excited when I saw this, because I sell tribal stuff, I thought maybe I finally made the Regretsy cut!
But no, this isn’t about real tribal, just hipster crap. Oh well.
What is “real tribal” ? Are you a member of a recognized tribe making culturally traditional pieces? I think all “tribal” is colonialist insomuch as it depends on an appropriated Other and this idea that all non white people are somehow members of some generic Tribe that falls under the umbrella term “Tribal.”
Thanks for the compliment. I have one thing labeled Native American Mythical Twin Mermaids because I create mermaids from different cultures and Passamaquoddy legend has the story of Ne Hwas. Most people who know this story don’t know to search for Passamaquoddy or Ne Hwas and I want them to find it. I have no other pieces that say Native American Inspired. Or I shouldn’t.
I wrote a piece on my blog about changing out all the “tribal” words from my jewelry after realizing how colonialist the word was. I also discussed how, when making a certain style of jewelry, it is quite difficult to get views from the buyers who you are designing for when all the catch phrases that describe your work are racist and problematic. Tribal. Gypsy. Etc. I have no problem with “Bohemian.” I must have forgotten to change that one. Won’t deny for a moment that I was participating in this crap when I tagged them.
Also, you might want to read the entire description of the mermaid doll and read my disclaimer that has always been at the bottom of anything I have ever made that was “Native American Inspired” including my wrap bracelets:
“**Note: Since the story of Ne Hwas belongs to the Passamaquoddy people, and I don’t believe it is right to take from a culture without giving back, $5 of this mermaid sale will be donated to The American Indian Education Foundation (AIEF), a NRC program that helps to provide scholarships and educational tools to American Indian people in need. I encourage every Etsy artist who is not a member of a recognized tribe, but creates jewelry and art inspired by Native American culture to please give a portion of your profits to a Native American charity so that we may give back to people that have given and lost so much.”
Last year I raised over $100 in donations to AIEF via the sales of my mermaids. Maybe should have mentioned that when you called me out.
woah, woah! I wouldn’t count what was said as a calling out. Just a question. Remember, it is hard to judge how something is being said on the internet. This is why we should all be more obvious with our comments. If Maple was being critical they need to be sure and throw in some insults for clarification. For example it could have read:
“Why the fuck did you label one “Bohemian Tribal,”bitch?”
My suggestions are bold for emphasis.
amurana, yeah i wasn’t as aggro as it sounded either. i thought she had a good point. i just think it’s different to take specific stories and to create art inspired by that and to throw a bunch of feathers onto leather with a bead and to call it tribal or native american, but i am biased.
I sell vintage clothing and jewelry that was made by tribal people in Central Asia, South Asia, and North Africa. My friends & relatives in those areas are not offended by the term tribal.
So where exactly does the word ‘colonialist’ derive it’s meaning from if not some conception of what it means to have been a colonist, abstracted from specific historical examples? The word ‘tribal’, which has been used anthropologically to mean cultures at a certain level of social organization, has an attached conception of what it means to live in a tribe including motifs drawn from historical examples.
I guess the important distinction you are trying to make is which tribe you fall under, but I think if you’re using either word in a pejorative sense a lot of history is probably being ignored.
My art history professor from Africa told us tribal is an insulting and derogatory term to use. He told us this after we had all used the word tribal like 50 times in our exams…the class felt like one unified asshole
I’m curious – Did your prof find it insulting because he is a non-tribe dwelling African – maybe he’s an urban snob who didn’t want people to mistake him for someone who lives a less ‘sophisticated’ lifestyle.
Professors can be wrong, ya know. Douchbags, as well.
They are at rennfaires and faerycons investigating the belly dancers who use the term ‘tribal’ to mean Near Eastern, post-hippie, cross cultural dance.
We have very little Native American blood in us. My mom’s side of the family, her father’s parents- and the genealogy trail goes cold. If what we believe is true, I’m just short of 1/4 Blackfoot Sioux.
Why am I telling you this?
Because this fucking mess has me offended on behalf of who may or may not be My People.
May I feel offened by proxy? I’ll be on the side with a “My people came from Europe in the 20th century. We settled in NYC and we don’t believe in this pseudo tribal shit” sign, if that’s ok.
I am SO fucking envious of families such as yours, all the history your ancestors have witnessed, good and bad. I used to work with a man whose 4 grandfathers fought in the Civil War, on the coughwinningcough side.
Those histories aren’t as easily tracked as U.S. ones are. One of the exciting things about this country is how much we’ve accomplished in a relatively short amount of time: A few centuries, not hundreds of them.
(I took your post as “Hey, don’t forget your heritage!”, not as you being difficult. Thanks. )
Hell, my 10x great grandfather was a pirate/privateer captain in New Amsterdam, who’s either brother or father helped lead a massacre on a completely innocent tribe (as I understand it, one tribe attacked, they couldn’t find that tribe, but thought this other one would do nicely) and I find this offensive!
One side of the family has a long history. On the other side, I’m like 5th gen. German. But, I mean, most of my ancestors were fur trappers or moonshiners. My grandpa was also the black sheep of his line, so I know very little about the direct tree up from him, though I can trace my name back all the way to France, through 16 generations.
*Looking around uncomfortably, feeling embarrassed for LouisattheLast*
Uh, LouisattheLast, It’s a great story and all, but, well…you DO know that Johnny Appleseed wasn’t a real person, right? Like Paul Bunyon or Tom Sawyer or Dick Cheney?
And his sister was my great x 5 grandmother. Yup. He was quite literally a backwoods barefoot peace and love vegetarian hippie WAY before it was cool to be. And yes, he really did plant a lot of apple trees. A LOT of them. But they weren’t for eating. They were for making alcoholic cider, which is way cooler.
Damn it, my sarcasm font html failed! (I thought the mention of Dick Cheney as a fictional character would have given away the fact I was not serious! I know he was a real person.)
Are we gonna play this game, Louisathelast? It’s on like Donkey Kong.
I’m related to a very famous Louis, Louisathelast. Or should I say, a Lewis. My screen name is not Land C fan, although even I sometimes read it like that. It’s L and C fan. Lewis and Clark. Lewis was a very distant cousin of mine. Also, let me make this clear: I am a fan of their bravery and their hard work. I am NO fan of what happened to the peoples they encountered (although those two weren’t too bad themselves. In later life, Lewis ordered one massacre, but he was not right in the head at the time (depression or bipolar, alcoholism, possibly on opiates, and killed himself only a few years after the expedition, although some say it was murder, after reportedly acting batshit for days.) However, it has been suggested that before the expedition, he was a supporter of Cherokee rights.
Clark had great sympathy for the natives. He ensured that Sacajawea’s son was properly educated, and spoke out against the Cherokee Trail of Tears (considering he died partway through the Trail of Tears, imagine if you will an old man pretty much on his deathbed as the head of the department dealing with Indians, trying to tell Washington that there are horrible conditions that winter out west, and that they shouldn’t send the Cherokees out there, only to be ignored).
That is true, they don’t. But sour cider apples fare better than sweet eating apples when started from seed, and it’s a hell of a lot easier to carry seeds around than grafts. He was starting nurseries, not orchards.
And yeah, I know there are more dignified ancestors to have (it’s Louisa, by the way, not Louis- though of course it’s the same root) but I love my great whatever uncle for being batshit insane enough that often people (not Bugsy) really do think he was fictional.
I did have great-somethingth grandfather who worked at Monticello, though, as some kind of general handyman. And was apparently a deadbeat, to judge by the notes online- Richard Sorrels, if you’re curious. Apparently he kept borrowing money from Jefferson and not paying it back.
Also, as for the dignified part, that wasn’t my intent. I was kinda messing with you. Besides, my relation to Lewis is much more distant than yours to Johnny Appleseed.
My great great great great grandmother (Named Mary Cary), courted a man named George Washington. She brought him home to meet her parents and her dad threw him out of the house saying “He will never amount to anything.” Story has been verified on several accounts.
So…..Perhaps this was the life changing event that inspired good old George to go out and make something of himself… who knows?
To toss mine on the pile, my however-many-greats-uncle was Sir Francis Drake. My paternal grandmother’s side is British and kinda la-di-dah, so it’s been traced quite far back. The rest, not so much. Lots of British, a little bit of Scottish and German. So yes, I am of the Celtic translucent skintone.
There’s a rumor on my mom’s side of the family that there’s Native American blood in us. We’re not sure. But I’m willing to join your “offended on behalf of” club on a tentative basis.
You are not Cherokee. If you are not a registered member of a federally recognized tribe which has pretty clear requirements for membership and if you didn’t grow up Cherokee with Cherokee cultural traditions, responsibilities, etc- you are NOT Cherokee. Please, all white people STOP claiming some distant distant Cherokee blood.
No, they just don’t want to hear that random person #122 on the Internet, as well as the federal government, has the power to dictate that they “aren’t allowed to claim” something that, in many cases, may be important to their family for several generations — regardless of whether they look “white” to you.
Oh Blue Panda, sorry but the word Native American now means indigenous North Americans. I agree with Russell Mean and AIM that American Indian is preferable, but everyone has a different preference and they will argue this issue to the death so shuddup.
Oh davkadeergirl, I’m fully aware that it does, but it is offensive, it’s like the old days when they used to refer to any non white culture as native in a derogatory manner.
It’s offensive to some and some consider it to rightly represent history and pride. It’s a debatable term, but definitely I agree it is less than desirable.
Look. Here it is (and by the way, you are the first Random Internet Person to ever make me truly lose my temper): I have met those people who have been told that they have Indian ancestry. I know that they are mistaken (at best), and they do some stupid things, and that is supposed to justify them. I have ALWAYS done my utmost to NOT BE THAT PERSON. Like the girl I met once who told me she was “Iroquois” but didn’t know WHICH Iroquois tribe, or even that that was q valid question. I have never claimed heritage, only ancestry. To honor that ancestry, I have done research, read, talked with my grandmother about her family, and I have tried to remember my family and honor them and their forebears, just as I have done for the Irish, Scottish, and Welsh ancestors in both parents lineages. What you are saying is that I don’t have the right, and that is utterly wrong of you.
Your heritage is your heritage no matter what percentage it is. It sounds pretty damn racist to claim that different cultures have different types of blood and if you are too diluted you are no good. Many people born in the USA *do* have Cherokee in them, because they loved screwing the white people. My full blood Mohawk friend loved laughing about how they were hot for the pale skins of the newcomers.
I have a feeling this post isn’t going to go in the place I want it to….
There is a big difference between heritage..and ancestry. Heritage are things passed down to you, stories, traditions. People who have never been a part of tribal culture have no tribal heritage, they have ancestry. And contrary to popular belief, less than 5% of white Americans have even one Native ancestor…if all the blood myths were true, Natives wouldn’t only make up 1.9% of the population. The Cherokee are a large Nation…and they have extremely lax enrollment policies, only requiring one is able to locate an ancestor on rolls and census’…Pretty simple for those who actually have the ancestry.
I spend a good deal of my childhood on a Six Nations Res, as my Gramps is Mohawk…I’ve never once heard anyone claim they loved screwing white people. I am not Mohawk, as the Mohawk say I am not…but I do have just as many Mohawks in my tree as Anishinaabe.
oh dear god, are you really insisting that if there is american indian blood in white families it is because american indians “loved screwing white people” and not because of rape, intermarriage, etc?
My ex-husband is a casino dividend collecting, literally card-carrying member of the Saginaw-Chippewa tribe. I henceforth may legitimately declare that I *had* some Native American in me. /rim shot
Is it then inappropriate to say that one’s ancestors were Cherokee (or [insert nation here])? Because I’ve always handled this issue by saying “Apparently, one of my great-grandfathers married a woman who was related to Sitting Bull, but I heard this late enough in life that I’m slightly suspicious of the notion,” but for those who have more definite ideas that their ancestors were of a particular people, I’m curious what the PC way to say this is.
I generally sit in the camp of “No one listens to me complain about my people’s culture-wide Stockholm Syndrome on St. Patrick’s Day, so let’s all just gleefully participate in the who-the-fuck-am-I stuff,” but I’m curious.
Also, having known some VERY white-looking Native Americans who grew up Cahuilla but weren’t registered tribal members, I’m gagging slightly on the idea that registering with the federal government is necessary to identify with a Native American tribe, but maybe that’s me.
Stating that you have ancestors is fine….as long as people are willing to acknowledge the ridiculous amount of blood myths that float around…especially concerning Cherokee/Blackfoot. What gets most Indians, is when a person says I am ‘fraction amount’ ____ tribe or ‘part’ Native too. That isn’t the way our societies work. If you are not a tribal citizen…or at least recognized by the tribe for those who don’t make enrollment cuts…then you aren’t Indian. You are a person with ancestry. We have to draw lines somewhere, otherwise our very identity will be taken too. Our lands are gone, our right to self-govern gone, our spiritual symbols co-opted, our spirituality twisted and rewritten on new-age websites…and now people want our identity too. Tribes make their own citizenship requirements…and the Cherokee are very lax compared to many other Nations. They have the final say who is one of them, and who isn’t…not the government.
Do you realize how many people do things just like this article points out and claim it’s all cool, dude, because like, my great great grandma was Cherokee! How disrespectful it is to real American Indians who live every day fighting to have authentic representation and voices and history and culture amidst the flood of fake American Indian shit everywhere, INCLUDING this idea that having some great great great grand-blood drop is what constitutes a tribal identity? Do people really think it’s that flimsy and meaningless that anyone can just claim it? Or perhaps you should reach up on just how many white people try to claim Native American Ancestry on college applications to get scholarships? It isn’t about registering with the Federal government. It is about registering with a real tribe that requires more than a family legend to join even if you watched Last of the Mohicans or Dances with Wolves too many times.
Everybody wants to be Cherokee or “Native American” or “Tribal” when it means wearing feathers and claiming to be a Shaman or going to a Sweat Lodge, but where are all of these supposed “Native Americans” when people are fighting toxic waste dumping on reservation land or when people are living in third world conditions on reservations while people claiming a great great grandma are making a thousand dollars a person is overcramped sweat lodges and “vision quest” seminars? When people are fighting for their sacred burial lands against encroachment and grave robbery (aka archaeology) and all the other ugly shit that goes with being the victims of a pretty recent genocide? Suddenly being Cherokee isn’t so trendy when it actually requires you to do shit that makes a difference.
I’m very aware that many people use their “oh I’m part whatever” as a means of excusing themselves for appropriating other people’s culture. However, an honest appreciation for the ethnic identity of an ancestor, which is what the people in this thread are showing, does not strike me as deserving of your (otherwise justified) anger.
Especially since the underlying message of the comments here has been “I have an ancestor who identified with a Native people, but I would never be so crass as to think that ‘crafts’ like the above are okay.”
Incidentally? I’m as white as they come. And when the shopping developments started being planned so they’d stare over the annual agave harvest, I was standing right there at the protests; when the ownership of Native American remains by their descendants vs. by archaeologists was disputed, I was writing letters. Caring about this things is not a merit badge for tribal membership; it’s just being an aware person.
I’m not angry. Please don’t pull the “you’re angry” card simply because I am discussing my point of view.
Also, I’m sorry to break it you but these “ancestors” just do not exist. They are myths. It was hard for me too to give up on the myth in my family that my Great Grandmother was full Apache and my mother still insists it is true. It isn’t. Saying, as people did above, well my great grandmother was so and so so that part of me is offended,” is 1) once again diminishing Native American identity to a mere claim of a distant relative and 2) making a strange assumption that some part of a blood tie is actually REQUIRED to be offended by appropriation. Both reinforce the common ideas that Native Americanism is a trend and something one can claim without any proof or community involvement and 2, that “Native Americans” are Other and only if we can claim some distant blood do we even have a right to be offended by appropriation.
Also this has NOTHING to do with the way someone looks or skin tone or looking Native American enough. It is about cultural history, family history and traditions, community responsibilities, identity rooted in lived experience and responsibility and often times- a lot of bad shit that happens to you when you’re apart of a marginalized group, and nothing at all with me thinking someone is not dark enough. Not even sure where you got that?
Also, tribed are recognized federally not because the goverment just couldn’t wait to give them rights and some self-determination, but because people fought like hell for this little semblance of identity and culture. It’s important to be in one of these recognized tribes because if not, anyone who is anyone can join the Rainbow Crystal GlitterBear Dancing Shadow Tribe that claims blood roots and takes on ridiculous names and tours the country claiming to represent real American Indians.
I’ve heard that my father was part “American Indian,” but never got any clarification and don’t feel any need or desire to claim a heritage I know absolutely nothing about.
But regardless of what else is discussed in this thread, I think that someone should make up membership certificates for the Rainbow Crystal GlitterBear Dancing Shadow Tribe.
Or one can forfeit their next five or six paycheques, and join up with White Ego Woman and the Whirling Rainbow Generokee Pretendian society. Unfortunately there is no shortage of such new-age Culture Vulture groups willing to take advantage of the spiritually lost. http://whirlingrainbow.com/whiteeagle.htm
“Also, I’m sorry to break it you but these ‘ancestors’ just do not exist. They are myths.”
I am really interested in hearing the logic behind how you know this when it’s someone you don’t know and whose family history you have not personally traced.
Chances of actual ancestry vs chances of the blood myth that is SUPER rampant in the US? It’s more likely the latter. Sure, there are a few ancestors here and there, but more often than not, when researched at all, these prove to be myths.
Also, quite convenient to conjure up a few million extra so called “Native Americans” when most of the real American Indians were murdered in a genocide. See how that works? It’s magic! It’s like the small pox and massacres and land stealing just NEVER HAPPENED! LOOK HOW MANY NATIVE AMERICANS WE HAVE!
It’s like Wilma ManKiller said to a tour bus full of white people who pulled into the reservation one day and asked, “Where are all the Indians?”
She looked at her watch and said, “Well, it’s about 2 pm, they are probably at Wal Mart.”
Those white people were mad they didn’t see any REAL Indians that day- you know, not normal people in jeans and tshirts buying household items, but Medicine men and war-bonnets and eagle feathers!
The New Age cults rage on (all the white people will be indians)
and we want to be related to Sitting Bull! (all the indians will be ghosts)
Chances American Indian ancestry are very small, but still possible. Dismissing a claim without investigation does no one any good. A recent episode of “Finding Your Roots” featured Ruth Simmons, president of Brown University, and it turned out that the rumor was true in her case. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., the host, said it was the first time he had come across that. So it does happen. It’s extremely rare, sure, but it happens.
And a person saying they are part Native American is seen as similar to saying they are part German or part Korean. They are being inclusive of all their ancestors and conveying their pride in their origins. But people will get butthurt over any little thing these days.
Perpetuating the myth of free money is just as bad as peddling crafts that you have assigned to a particular culture that you have no affiliation with.
How about the $30 billion dollars worth of natural resources the federal government ADMITTED was taken from the Indians (and I’m not talking about the stuff from way back), which they decided last month only merited being given back $3 billion spread thinly between tribes? What about that money?
(Yes, I did see Dennis Banks speak on Monday. Can you tell?)
No Shit, I know that knowing my grandmothers grandfather was Cherokee means I know I’m not. I don’t particularly to just forget about him and my mother’s heritage. It’s all fine and dandy that I can wear green and get drunk once a year considering I have less Irish blood than Cherokee, (considering that ancestor fought in the American Revolution.) Knowing about that guy doesn’t mean I’m moving to Ireland and making shitty headbands with shamrocks on it. Knowing that my grandmother’s grandfather was Cherokee only makes me more aware of the worst that can, and did, happen.
I know goddamn well that there’s no such thing as and Indian Princess, and I have no desire to go join a tribe because “it’s cool.” I only wish to remember my grandmother’s family with as much honor as I can remember my father’s family. And I don’t care if you have a problem with that.
And I see above where you’re claiming that no Native American ever married a white person, ever. Thanks for clearing that up. In the meantime, can you explain why grandmother or her grandmother would just make up about how they had to tell neighbors they were “Black French” so that the menfolk could get jobs, because no one would hire a “damn drunk injun?” Can you tell me about how the documents I have lie about my great-grandmonther being born just outside of the Qualla Boundary (which by the way, is NOT a reservation), or about why in the world she would tell her daughters not to forget that they were really Cherokee, no matter what they told the rest of the world?
Because they decided NOT to announce to the Federal Government that they weren’t white doesn’t mean shit. I wouldn’t want the government knowing that, either, considering what came before.
Then absolutely NONE of what has been said applies to you, does it? If you are one of the lucky few who can document their family’s Native ancestry, then that is great. That is what the Cherokee want….for you to prove it to them. They make the rules over who is Cherokee and who isn’t….and Qualla Boundary is one of the only places where intact tribal lines of heavy blood can be traced to…but you must acknowledge that a ridiculous amount of people claim Cherokee…and it was historically used as a cover for biracial black and white children, especially during the Freedmen era….which means the Cherokee had to revise enrollment policies to protect themselves from the blood myths.
Although the Dawes Acts themselves are flawed, race-wise, making the whole black or Cherokee thing even more complicated, and leading to accusations of racism on the part of the Cherokees against African Americans.
For those who have no idea what the hell I just said: the Dawes Rolls were documents made by the U.S. government (I seriously think they sent like one guy) after the Cherokee removal to Oklahoma to document the races of those living there. People would be judged pretty much by their appearances, so brothers could be counted as different races. There had been racial mixing which would make such designations anything but clear cut anyway. The Cherokees had black slaves who went with them, and some had children with each other. Now, the Cherokees allow those who have an ancestor listed in the Dawes Rolls as Cherokee to be members, much to the chagrin of people descended from those listed as black, who may have been Cherokee as well.
I know it’s hard Rhapsody. It was hard for me to give up the dream, too. It’s funny that there were (on a low estimate) over 5000 tribes in North America alone, yet you are sure that your great, great, grandfather was “Cherokee,” the single most popularly claimed tribe.
Rhapsody, I’m on board with everything you’re saying, so I kind of wish you had a different avatar because it’s making me hear your posts in Applejack’s mad voice. Also, that episode about the buffalo.
Wait, if your grandmother’s grandfather was Cherokee, wouldn’t that be 1/16? And somewhere I thought you said your grandmother’s grandmother. I’m not calling you out on it, you seem to have looked into it quite thoroughly, but as someone with OCD and an interest in geneology, I get hung up on details, and I am confused (once again, do not mistake my confusion for a rebuttal. Don’t hurt me…)
Many Cherokee didn’t sign the register way back when because they didn’t trust the US government. For good reason. As a result, there are MANY Cherokee descendants who will never be recognized by the federal government.
We have some Cherokee in my family. I missed all the DNA though. My aunt hogged it all. She really doesn’t look Caucasian, but I’m the palest, pastiest person in the family, and they all mock my fear of the sun. But I still think this is offensive, even if I don’t have any Native Street Cred.
What’s just as offensive as “tribal” and “Native American Inspired,” are when white people claim Native Americanism, even a bit, based on some family tall tale of distant blood ties. So many white people believe they have some blood quotient that makes them special, or in the know, or in the right to appropriate. Claiming to be “part Cherokee’ because your “great great” grand somebody was Cherokee is just as colonialist and fucked up as using tags like Tribal and Native American, in my opinion. I wish everyone would stop doing this.
Sociologically and anthropologically, it refers to a specific social structure, but which structure that is gets kinda nebulous. All my anthro professors used the word “group,” “society,” or occasionally “people” for that definition and “scene” or “subculture” for the self-defined group definition.
What’s even more offensive is people who get all pissed at people who try to research their lineage and find Native American in there.
Get pissed all you want about people who claim their “1/32″ or whatever Native American if you really want to. Seriously though, is there anything wrong with someone who simply embraces their heritage?
I must answer 25+ a day, pointing people in the right direction when it comes to researching Native ancestry, on another site. WE encourage people to trace it, due to the ridiculous amount of blood myths that get passed from generation to generation. Its the difference between stating ‘I think/have ancestry’ and ‘I am __fraction Native too’ that irks many Natives….as these people don’t know what it means to live everyday as a Native person. I will gladly tell anyone who wants to know about certain aspects of Anishinaabe culture, to put to rest the myths….but I won’t tolerate someone expecting I should treat them like long-lost family because of an ancestor four or five generations back. Just as I don’t expect the Scottish to give me citizenship just because my paternal great-Grandfather immigrated from there. There is a difference between ancestry and being Native yourself, just as there is a difference between ancestry and heritage.
I find this confusing. Does this only apply to “native Americans”? Are people also not allowed to say they are part German or Irish or Scandanavian because their grandparent or whatever was? If “part whatever” is not allowed how are you supposed to describe it?
That would all depend on how the Germans/Irish/Scandinavians feel about it. I read many threads online where it gets discussed the phenomenon of listing every ethnic/cultural heritage of every person in your family tree and how many Europeans find it amusing. I can’t speak for any of those groups, as I don’t belong to them….I have no issue with the use of the term ancestry at all. I do meet people in my ‘real’ life that tell me they have Nishna ancestry….it leads to good discussion and sometimes ends with them finding out is just wasn’t so. Ancestry is a great word….
I’m German and I’ve lived in the US for a while. I actually had lots of fun and interesting conversations with folks who wanted to talk about their German ancestry (including teaching some German swear words here and there ). But I also have a friend who got blasted at a Scottish forum for using the “I’m x% Scottish” phrase, despite only wanting to trace his family on his father’s side.
The written records for my father’s family go back to the 13th century, mainly because they always stayed in the same area. So I’ve never had problems “knowing my roots” but I do understand how important it is to know where you come from. I just don’t get why people would rather claim random ancestry because “it’s cool” instead of finding out the facts. That kinda defeats the purpose.
So Alaria, does it bother you if someone says they are “half German” even though they (and their parents/grandparents) were born in the US? Would “German ancestry” be the preferred way to state it, or something else? I am not being sarcastic here, I really want to know the right way to talk about it.
My dad used to teach German but sadly I only know a few basic words, plus most of the dog commands since my Shepherd’s previous owners trained her in German. I had to ask my dad how to pronounce some of the commands though and I ended up retraining her in English because I kept mixing them up. I’m pretty sure my dad learned German in school though and his parents didn’t speak it at home.
I just came back to this thread so my appologies, I didn’t see your reply sooner: No, it really doesn’t bother me how people choose to talk about their heritage. The only time I got mad was a guy with a SS shirt bragging about his 1/16 German roots.
I’m glad my (Cherokee & Delaware) grandpapa isn’t internet-savvy so he doesn’t have to see this crap… funny on the surface to laugh at stupid people, but kind of like pouring salt on a wound…
Can we just retire “Tribal” as a descriptor? I mean, without even getting into the whole appropriation argument I think it’s clear that not many people even know what the fuck it means.
Please. And anything “Amazon” or “Amazonian”, along with “Mermaid” and “Shaman”. Ye gods and little fishes, those ideas alone just caused two-thirds of Etsy to slide into a black hole. Well, I can dream, can’t I?
But, but, without these yummy, lovely words our products wouldn’t be as magical. We’d have to title our stuff “idiot hair floss” and “boob cozies” and “dead turkey hat”. *pout*
I’d ask to keep mermaid off that list, just because it has a very specific, valid use that’s pretty common, even though cupcakes do misappropriate it. The others they should have to get a special clearance for. And of course just ditch “tribal”, with all its problems.
My degree is in anthropology, but I work as a copywriter — so I spend a lot, A LOT, of time, trying to find ways to excise the horrible horrible word “tribal” from offensive locations without losing the search traffic of people who think it actually MEANS hipsterdoucheappropriationomgCUTE!
“Inspired by the ‘tribal’ styles now appearing on the world’s runways” is the best I’ve come up with so far. I wish to dog I could think of a better one.
Yeah, this is understandable and I wrote about it recently for a group of artists, myself included, who are trying to show up in the searches and sell our art without selling our souls, but so far, not much luck. Let me know what you come up with. I changed one pair of earrings from tribal to bohemian hippie and actually got a lot more views and sales.
You’ve probably given this a lot more thought than I have, but I’m curious how someone can be appropriating a culture if no one can define or identify which culture that is. It seems like the items listed as being tribal embrace the nebulousness of that term so if they only kind of look like something Native American/South American (which as labels seem so generic as to be offensive in themselves; are all people indigenous to the Americas culturally the same?) and don’t claim to be representative of a particular tribe then what is being appropriated?
Perhaps because to your average person, we are only one homogenous group….They don’t see us as the hundreds and hundreds of individual cultures that we are. No one seems to know that dreamcatchers are from ONE Native culture specifically….they get applied to all. Or that certain geometric prints represent a few distinct tribes in one area. Or that ‘tribal’ eagles/ravens/whales and totem poles are only specific to one tribe. While we are still different culturally and spiritually, in modern times we have had to come together on this to protect ourselves as our voice is too small individually..not that many people are listening anyways. The word tribal isn’t so bad..except that it gets slapped on anything with some leather and feathers…like no other cultures ever used those things. Its the term Native inspired I hate…how can you be inspired by something you don’t know the significance behind and won’t take the time to figure out what you have done wrong?
I am curious- would you feel better about it if it was said to be inspired by a specific and researched tribe, or would it still be just as bad?
Say for instance that I particularly liked the Tlingit story of Raven, particularly of how Raven was turned black, and wanted to make a print representing the story using the Big Lake Tribe’s art style- could that be labeled ‘Tlingit inspired,’ or does my pasty white heritage make that inappropriate also?
My comment may have ended up somewhere else? I LOVE Haida art…but have met Haida that want to vomit everytime they see one of their symbols used as a tattoo on a non-Haida. Not many people are going to put the effort into the research….were you to call the Tlingit and ask them about the Raven, and what is a respectful way to portray it, they would be overjoyed and would give you all the information you need. It may be taboo, or it may only be appropriate at certain times of year. Our stories and spiritualities are complex. The use of ‘inspired’ irks me..there are currently 3000+ items tagged as Navajo on Etsy, 98% of which are not even remotely Navajo, or even ‘generic’ Native. The Navajo have had to go so far as to trademark their own name, to prevent it from being attached to flasks, underwear, bags, etc. You being white has nothing to do with it….its the manor in which it is approached. Contact the Tlingit and they will give you the information needed.
Thank you for the reply- I’m not actually intending to make a print, it was a general question, but thank you for your time and civil response nonetheless.
Asking someone within the tribe is what I meant by a ‘specific and researched tribe’. There are so many nuances, even the different versions a single story could have depending on the specific tribe, that I could mix two ideas which absolutely DO NOT BELONG TOGETHER, and I would never know. Best to ask an expert.
I just wasn’t sure if it was disrespectful for someone who did not grow up with the myths and traditions to use them in any way whatsoever, or if there was an acceptable way to go about it- thank you for letting me know.
I want to feed that pillow to the hawk from this morning, take a picture of the hawk eating the pillow and then decoupage it onto a dinner plate that may not be safe for eating from.
Throw some beads and braided leather on that shit along with a whale tail and call it a “Hipster BoHo Mermaid Phantasy (sic) Tribal Shamanistic Douche Hat”. It’d break all sales records, especially if you note that it’ll align your chakras, give you more energy, keep your cheese fresh longer (inter-postality alert!) and call up the faery prince of your dreams *and* your very own rainbow-farting unicorn pony. For that last one, you might have to hot-glue a horn on the stuffed horse, though.
1. What the fuck does BoHo mean?
2. I think the horsey pillow is cute as fuck and I want it.
3. Whenever I hear the term Tribal I always think of the tattoo style.
Reference #1:
a. Short-form for “Bohemian”.
b. Short-form for “Pretentious Bitch-wear” (while there are males of the species, they are thankfully rare).
c. Shorter-short-form for “I’ve got a little money from that sweet little trust set up by Mummy and Daddy and I’m just struggling by in my loft in the Village and my groceries from Whole Foods and trying to show my artistic side by straggling around town in what looks like the Hell-mouth-shat-out-spawn of a mating of the Salvation Army and Value Village but actually cost more than the normal rent paid by the little people wear.”
d. Pre-cursor of today’s “Hipster”.
Wait, why is “bohemian” offensive? There’s a style of bead and wire work that’s very popular, and a lot of people are calling it “gypsy chain”. Not wanting to be THAT PERSON, I asked my Roma friends about it, and they all agreed that “bohemian” was an appropriate term to use instead. I’ve been working very hard to get my fellow artists to stop saying “gypsy” about everything!
As far as we’re (Romani) are concerned, Bohemian is an improvement over Gypsy, because some of us believe the term should be applied as a proper noun to those of us from that ethnic group. My Romani ancestors came from Bohemia, so I still cringe a little.
I was wondering when Ye Olde Gyppos were going to get a mention. We don’t have any organization so we’re fair game for everybody with body odor and a glue-gun.
Item #2- I am so with you! That is even cuter than fuck, and I don’t know why it’s in the Hall of Shame. Except for the “tribal” reference, which may pertain to the fabric on the back.
I read #2 as “I think the horsey pillow is cute and I want to fuck it.” Is it Regretsy that does it to me? or was I always like this and I’ve simply found my home? (yes, I created an account to tell you all this. AHHHHH)
Wait, so Bohemian wear describes artistic and cultural wear of Europe with ties to an ancient Celtic tribe (The Boii) that settled in parts of Germany?
Doesn’t that describe most Americans heritage? Shouldn’t more people be wearing bohemian style clothing?
I guess I am doubly confused that bohemian is a dirty word now.
It makes total sense to me as I like bohemian-style clothing (not a Pretentious Bitch or well-to-do but the rest of C is accurate ) and also have a good portion of ancestry coming out of areas around Luxembourg.
I guess I have a new anthem:
I’m proud to be a Bohemian
where at least I know I’m hippy.
And I wont forget the men who tie-dyed,
who gave that right to me….
If you click through to the pictures, the back of the pillow is I think what’s being referred to, and does look something like a Navajo blanket had a love child with Hot Topic, while smoking something. Which is perhaps the truest definition of tribal.
If people would just be responsible and get their stuffies spayed or neutered, we wouldn’t have the problem of homeless and unloved stuffies. And we would be spared a lot of tears.
I don’t know which to disdain more on the second seller: the fact that she is trying to sell that as clothing, or that tacky as hell Gir clip art tattoo dangerously close to her crotch.
Ifa, take a trip to your nearest thrift store, and buy a stuffed toy, a saw, and a pillow. For a fraction of the price, you get to laugh maniacally while sawing a stuffed animal in half. There are some things money can’t buy.
I have a teddy bear candy dish at home that a friend made from a stuffed teddy bear. She cut a big circle in its tummy, scooped out a lot of stuffing, cut a Red Solo cut to fit up to the edge of the surgery and glued that sucker in. I told her she should have used red dye for the seeping blood. Oh well. He’s adorable and if you fill his tummy with candy, pick him up, and give him a good whack on his back (no stuffing), the candy erupts from his tummy like a recreation of “Alien.” I love him so hard.
It’s reminiscent of fantasy armor, where the closer to naked a woman is, and the more vital areas she has exposed to swords, arrows, and other such nasties, the greater the bonus to her Constitution.
I play a battlemage who tanks, dual-wields, and has a tendency to use Spirit and Entropic magic (fucks with your mana AND your mind). He doesn’t need quite so high a Dex stat, fortunately, so I can keep him wrapped up pretty tight.
He has absolutely FABULOUS hair, though. That has to count for something!
My female half-giant dragon shamen wears head to toe chiton fullplate. I still get a pretty good bonus to my charisma. Why yes, I am dating the dungeon master!
@SpyGlassez, that never hurts! Although, armor doesn’t have to leave your entire midsection exposed to be hot, I will say that.
@AutobotDen, he has fabulous hair, wears robes (a.k.a. a man-dress), is all of five-foot-six because LOL elf, and has been known to sparkle pink when he’s got certain sustained effects on him. Then he has a deep-ass voice and is quite possibly the most astoundingly MASCULINE character I have ever had. I swear I wasn’t on anything when I made him.
See, I have an elf ranger (male) in my Pathfinders game who wears scanty leather armor … with the lowest Charisma stat of the entire party. I like ‘em insanely contradictory. Relatedly, I think we should hang out.
Also, this is your art, yes? Can I use the Art Nouveau one as a photoreference for something that will never see the light of day? I just love the pose to death.
Scribblegoat, go ahead! Just link back to the piece if by chance it ever does see the light of day. I had fun doing that one, although it was weird trying to reconcile Art Nouveau with the fact that he doesn’t walk girly at all. (Really, I should get back to the Seasons series I’m doing for Dragon Age. I only got Autumn and Winter done.)
I still need to crochet that peacock-haired bastard. Him and his stupid flaming face that I’ll need to felt.
OMG, I just finished watching the PAX Prime D&D session and was thinking how great it would be to start a FJL campaign, but in the back of my head there was this little voice saying “Naw, not even Regretsians are that nerdy.” And so my dreams of hand casting minifigs and drawing dungeon maps were put up on the shelf. Well, thank you for proving me wrong. As soon as I get paid I’m buying some d20 and a satchel full of glitter.
Yup, my husband made a dice bag out of that stuff and it’s like Kevlar (he had to use paracord to cinch it closed). Of course he does crochet super tight. Now I think I need to make a suit of armor out of silver Red Heart super saver.
The bisected woolen horse is fantastic , just imagine it with teddy bears , or even something really outragous like a cusion done up to resemble lava or something , then one could own their very own cuddly death scene!
My only hope is that those tight skinny leg jeans all the hipster guys are wearing are drastically lowering their sperm count so that they lose the ability to reproduce, well, sexually reproduce anyways…sometimes a weak mind can be won over by their plague…
And I think the grammatically correct expression is “either the wine or the glasses IS responsible.” It’s the plural glasses makes it sound wrong. Or the wine. It’s still an option.
Being white doesn’t actually occlude your ability to recognize racism/colonialism/cultural appropriation when you see it. That’s being a douchebag that does that. :p
If there was a traditional indigenous culture where more than two people wore some of these things, I bet it was mocked into extinction by neighboring tribes within a month
“Tribal” apparently now means “Silly Hat”. Either that or “Steampunk”
I have to check Urban dictionary
I actually thought the horse pillow wasn’t that bad. Good way to reuse some of the old stuffed animals…but the rest of that stuff isn’t even close to being “tribal”. And the people who made it are the least able to tell what “tribal” is. Morons.
The headband in the last picture isn’t all that terrible, I mean I wouldn’t wear it but I don’t see much wrong with it…
… but why oh why do people continue to take a grainy photos of themselves in mirrors with background clutter? Don’t they realize it looks terrible and just leads to others mocking them?
I just moved back to Kentucky after living in SF for four years. I’m working at a casino in Indiana and this bachelorette party came up from Louisville last weekend. As soon as I saw their asymmetric bangs I almost wet myself from glee. It was such a fantastic eyewash after staring the impossibly teased, permed, and broken (spiritually) hair of my fellow Midwesterners that I almost missed hipsters. Almost.
That’s actually the one I don’t see a problem with. It actually kinda does look like the sort of thing you’d see at a pow-wow, and the girl wearing it is the only one in this entire line up who could pass as Native American.
But then again, I’m white and nerdy… what the hell do I know?
Lots of powpows, lots of … tee-shirts, ball caps, army jackets, Eddie Bauer anoraks. On people who are unquestionably native american. Navajo and Pueblo kids in Disney clothes with sno-cones; Plains dancers in competition wearing regalia including neon-pink dyed turkey tailfeathers; Apache grandmothers in housedresses from K-Mart and traditional, handmade, *tribal* boots. Those people would think all this “tribal” on Etsy was silly, not worth getting pissed off about.
Actually… errrrr… *cowers under cushion awaiting onslaught of sad red thumbs* I actually really like the last one with the horns and stuff, it reminds me of traditional Mongolian headdresses – I’d buy it, but (a) it’s horrifically overpriced, and (b) let’s face it, I’m gonna look like a frigging moron wearing it to the supermarket on Saturday morning, innit X___X
The first girl has freaking beautiful hair. It’s so pretty it almost overcomes the headband.
Were the hair and the headband in a cagematch, the hair would win by TKO. But then the hair, pretty as it is, would probably do some embarassing victory pose and ruin the moment.
My favorite part about the “gingers have no souls” foolishness, is that it was originally started to protest bigotry. Then it became it’s own bigotry.
I have a very Jewish friend who is legitimately scared of gingers, because he legitimately thinks they are evil/will eat his soul. I find this INCREDIBLY amusing.
I know someone who is totes obsessed with Ann-Margret and would willingly GIVE his soul to her.
(You’re not kidding about your friend? I’ve never heard that about gingers. And I thought people who believe in the Illuminati and that lizard people walk amongst us are weird.)
I don’t think anyone truly says “Gingers have no souls” and mean it seriously. It’s just a meme.
Sadly, because of it, I apparently can not voice my personal opinion that orange or red hair is just not remotely appealing to me. Somehow this makes me a bigot.
I don’t think anyone actually says, “Gingers have no souls” and mean it seriously. It’s just a meme.
Sadly, apparently because of it, I can no longer voice my opinion that red hair simply is not at all appealing to me. Apparently it makes me look like a bigot?
Actually, as a ginger-blend (it’s in my blood and popped out all over in the family) and mother of future gingers since my love is a ginger, I’d like to say that it’s the fact that I plan to raise them catholic, and not the hair color, that will eradicate their souls.
FWIW, our D&D group makes the “gingers have no souls” joke so many times that actually, my Ginger really resents it and it bothers him.
I’ll bet that Prince Harry has a freaking warehouse full of them, just waiting for the day that his brother ascends the throne and Harry activates all his captured souls and stages a palace coup. It could happen. Don’t deny it. Don’t think we non-gingers aren’t on to your evil plans.
Gah….this is the exact reason I stopped perusing Etsy….and what led me to your lovely site…..the misuse of ‘Native American inspired’ and tribal, slapped on anything that has some leather or feathers. Gaawanaadizid!
“In the Great American Indian novel,
when it is finally written,
all of the white people will be Indians
and all of the Indians
will be ghosts.” – Sherman Alexie
“There is no history book with my story,
There is no newspaper to give me my glory.
because no one has heard this language in years….
cept Kokopelli, dreamcatchers and a trail of beers.”
-ryan red corn
I think the first one is rather nice, but the rest of them, not so much.
I’m particularly baffled by the pillow horse. Why is the more detailed and colorful fabric facing the ass-end of the stuffed horse, shouldn’t that be on the front? Why do you think skulls and houndstooth go with a horse? Why did you put a stuffed horse in a pillow?!
If by “Feeling like an Amazon?” means you are asking me, if I only have one boob and am looking to go to war for my magic girdle. Then yes. But your macramé bikini top is not the appropriate attire for kicking ass and enslaving men.
The fringes (and bells) keep away the evil spirits. However, in the context of Etsy, they attract large numbers of preposterously indignant hipster trash in order for them to be collectively labelled as a, “Tribe.”
Wow do you guys really have an issue with this. Go spend some time on trying to sale some of your of your tribal bullshit on etsy and don’t pay so much attention to other peoples items, unless you actually care for what they are selling. If you actually pay attention, then you could tell the second image is humorous in its own right and not serious. The item is for festival purposes, and tribal style. These obviously aren’t made by actual tribal members. Post some of your items on here if you have negative dumbass shit to say, so we can see how awesome and inspiring they are.
Here I was, thinking that some poor deluded tribal member was really making these, getting ready for some humorous tribal festival somewhere, selling them in a desperate plea to bring awareness of faux tribal items.
So, what you’re really trying to say is (I had to extrapolate a bit – grammar/usage nazi that I am) this:
You’re trying to sell some humorous tribal bullshit but you only have negative and dumbass shit to say, and we can see how awesome and inspiring you [sic] are.
“Native Turquoise Tribal Headdress Headpiece,” also known as “Bullshit Five-Dollar Upcycled Repurposed Broken Wal-Mart Fake Suede Belt On Some Bitch’s Head.”
Nobody said that Disney did, I was merely pointing out that it was that Native American mermaids that would be offended, as opposed to the mermaids of other cultures.
When I see “yarns” I read it as “yams”, so I thought that last one was made with colorful yams, which really would have explained the, er, horns a bit better. Maybe.
What always makes me laugh are the people who think they are so much better than Regretsy. It’s like – yeah, yeah, they’re evil so I can be mean, rude and nasty about them because it doesn’t count, because they are evil.
“No, no, no! No good sports! Stop being reasonable! Temper tantrum all the way, baby!”
Wow. Part of me doesn’t want to hurt Brandi’s feelings either, and part of me wants to see the shitstorm that may occur if she sees us making fun of her. As for the girl who made the headband, I don’t want to hurt her feelings. She seems like a nice enough girl, and at least didn’t throw a huge fit. She even considered that she may be overreacting. That shows some introspection, which some of the other cupcakes appear to be greatly lacking.
“Oh, I’d send an email. And a poisoned apple. Ok; the poison might be overboard. I keep thinking that I’m going to get featured just for talking about how much I don’t like Regretsy. I’m gonna practice my best “Go ahead….make my day!”.”
I guess in a way, I am showing her on Regretsy because of how much she talks about it. But she’s fooling herself if she thinks she’s gonna get featured. We feature fuckery, not mildly annoying people.
The OP keeps getting better in my eyes. In response to Brandi:
“Hehehe—I know a thing or two about temper tantrums–I have a two year old! But I’m trying to keep my head up and laugh it off. I can’t think of anything clever to add to the forum though, and I’m not sure I’m brave enough to even go there…”
She at least tries to be dignified. I’m not even certain if her posts should be considered butthurt.
Intractably Bumptious Thuggery
May 2, 2012 at 9:34 pm
No, she didn’t get butt-hurt after all! I posted the link before I had time to actually read it – MY toddlers were throwing tantrums about going to bed.
That first one isn’t bad. Not my style, but my hippie friends love stuff like that. The last time I had a feather in my hair I was 11 and skating at a roller rink to the J. Geil’s Band’s greatest hits.
And it’s still better than that shit Mariana “Collective” Schechter sells.
i’m glad to see i’m not the only one that kinda-of-sort-of-regrettably likes the first one. as many have been said, i wouldn’t wear it… but in addition to being well-constructed, the colors and elements are playing well off of one another.
or maybe i’ve just been living in portland too long.
I really like a lot of stuff in her shop. Given her lack of butthurt (false butthurt alarm, if you will) in the Etsy forums, she’ll probably make a lot of sales.
Mead sounds good. I recently unearthed a few bottles I had made several years ago (no labels mind you!). Maybe I’ll pop the cork on one and see if it aged well or became a really good vinegar.
The first photo awakens two very different types of memories:
1)Of actual Peruvian jungle towns where a gringo can actually buy something very similar to this for about 5 dollars (made by local mostly-unemployed hippie gringos).
I was going to make some smart ass comment about how I can’t wait until blackface comes back in style, but then I remember all the vintage sambo-esque crap the hipsters are selling on etsy. Then I was going to make some joke about how auschwitz-chic should be hip next season but I just can’t find the snark.
As a native-mixed blood, I want to cry for the kids I work with every day. I thought this might be coming (saw some people calling out the troops on Beyond Buckskin) and I hope it does something to raise awareness of how horrific the trend is.
What most people don’t realize is not only is it tasteless, it’s also illegal. The Indian Arts & Crafts law was meant to be protection against exactly this type of crap. I call ‘complicit party’ on Etsy management. I’ve finally got a reply about the issue from Ms. Gorman. I hope they really address it this time.
I hope the Navajo Nation enforces their trademark with all the navajo name ripoff there, too. Trademarked!
Have you seen the video by DW Diaz on youtube? Its called Genocide Chic…soooo funny…but at the end she gives a nod to her next line…Concentration Couture. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDku3BPkUos
I did and laughed through the tears! It’s a good one I also like the feature on the shoe-shopping at Journeyz….should be required watching material. I can’t find it, though They might have had to take it down for some reason.
What the seller doesn’t realize (I hope) is that the Navajo have taken out a copyright on the word Navajo….to prevent this exact thing…..the use of a term that means something to them, being slapped all over something that has nothing to do with them. That is what it has come to in this day and age….we need to copyright our Nation’s names.
That is the common ‘trailer park’ tribe, also called ‘white trash’.
And before the butthurt continues: I done lived in one of them thar trailer parks, and there sure as hell were some trashy people. Your mileage may vary
I feel somewhat odd. I always thought “Tribal” was just a made up term for stylized tattoos and sort of rustic-punk, the same way ‘steampunk’ was made up for anachronistic Victorian era stuff. Now I’m all sad.
That’s the common ‘trailer park’ tribe, also called ‘white trash’.
And before the butthurt continues: I done lived in one of them thar trailer parks, and there sure as hell were some trashy people. Your mileage may vary.
I couldn’t help but read a bunch of the thread over at Etsy. Before you get all hurt, read what the post is about! It’s obviously about the use of the word “Tribal.” Several comments here were about how they liked the headband.
Also, really interesting comments by people who have been featured here (great one about having to admit they mis-used “Steampunk”) and another about how awful the internet can be and that Regretsy really isn’t evil. She should feel lucky it’s about her tagging and not her craft. She could actually learn something about appropriating cultures! Also, none of them (of the pages and pages I read) even mentioned the calling out of resellers that the whole Etsy community should be THANKFUL FOR. Ugh. At least the “victim” seems to be handling it well, even if a bunch of the people who responded are clearly idiots.
Thank you SOOOO much for creating this post.
As a Native American artist on Etsy, I get so incredibly frustrated with the thrown-together crap people push as “Native.” Being included in treasuries is usually a good thing, but when it’s in a collection of this stuff it’s a double-edged sword. The only response I can make on etsy without getting myself in trouble (as has happened before) is say, “Thanks for including my Native-made ______ in your Native-inspired collection.” Most of my jewelry on etsy is contemporary, but I am a traditional beadworker and what really pisses me off is that even if you use traditional materials and techniques, you may not call your beaded earrings (or whatever) Native American/American Indian unless you’re an enrolled member of a federally recognized nation, according to the American Indian Arts and Crafts Act. You can get more info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Arts_and_Craft_Act_of_1990
I actually really like the first one, but then again I’m a closet Hippie. I’d consider buying it but 30 bucks is more than I have to spend. So now I’m considering making one for myself
I hate this hipster wannabe Native crap these kids keep on putting together with craft store feathers and hot glue. But there are WAY more problems right now that need to be attended to in ndn country than going nuts over this. Let’s talk about how many elders died over the winter from lack of heat, or the fact that we need to develop more outreach programs to help the families. So tired of my culture being raped but I can’t keep on with the internet wars on this. We got serious issues to think about. These asshole appropriators can answer to Spirit for this crap.
Okay look. As an Oglala Lakota woman I don’t care who looks into their family history to see if they have ndn relatives. Really what does it matter if you look? It doesn’t. If you find it, then okay, what will be the next step? How will you honor those relations? Let me tell you that, honoring them by wearing fake regalia and chicken feathers, attending pow wow and acting stupid, is not going to sit well with your ancestors. So you have a bit of ndn blood in ya, but that does not mean you automatically become the ndn of today whose struggles are not your struggles. See. You can’t claim something as yours when you haven’t lived among your people. Now you want to know something. OKAY, go to the reservation and ask to speak with an elder. Find out from the source how YOU respect your ancestors. ACCEPT what they say. Stay away from crazy new age appropriators like Suraj Holzworth. Don’t PRETEND you are something you are not.
May 2, 2012 at 2:28 pm
Why doesn’t the second girl have a belly button?!
May 2, 2012 at 2:30 pm
Look carefully at the shadow under the lowest “leaf.”
May 2, 2012 at 2:42 pm
“What do you call the navel shadow under the second leaf?” “We call that one Muad’Dib.”
May 2, 2012 at 3:32 pm
Crap. I heard that in Everett McGill’s voice. I fucking hate what David Lynch did to Dune, but it’s like some insidious virus lying dormant in my brain.
May 2, 2012 at 4:47 pm
….”Muuua-Deeb” *stabs brain with pencil*
May 2, 2012 at 4:54 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfligs2SLBw
May 2, 2012 at 3:37 pm
It is by will alone I set the fuckery in motion
It is by the juice of Etsy that hellephant loses the ear, the ear acquires stains, the stains become whimsicle
it is by will alone I set the fuckery in motion.
May 2, 2012 at 4:15 pm
May 2, 2012 at 4:48 pm
Sampler and Zazzle that shit.
May 2, 2012 at 7:05 pm
I frakking LOVE you Derping!!!!
I’m going to have to, in the tradition of Etsy, copy and paste that shit!
May 2, 2012 at 3:48 pm
You just made my day, zevo. Thank you. My cat, however, is deeply disgruntled that her furniture started laughing like a hyena.
May 2, 2012 at 5:25 pm
That wins my comment of the day.
May 2, 2012 at 5:50 pm
Great, now I’m hungry for Spice.
May 2, 2012 at 2:31 pm
I’m going with she’s not human.
May 2, 2012 at 2:38 pm
She sold it on the black market to pay for the Gir tattoo.
Perfectly reasonable. I’d do the same, myself.
May 2, 2012 at 2:40 pm
Why does she have a Gir tattoo right above her crotch? Does she think Cartoon Characters around her bajango look sexy?
May 2, 2012 at 2:52 pm
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May 2, 2012 at 2:55 pm
Not for nothing, but Invader Zim isn’t anime.
May 2, 2012 at 3:00 pm
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May 2, 2012 at 11:26 pm
“let’s go to MY room, pig!”
May 2, 2012 at 5:27 pm
Do you have The Zapper tattooed in your pubic region?
Bam!
May 2, 2012 at 5:44 pm
Of course! The ladies always come crawling back for another taste of sweet, sweet can-day. Bam!
May 2, 2012 at 8:03 pm
OK, WHO THUMBSED DOWN A FUTURAMA REFERENCE? Hmm? HMMM!?!
I didn’t get it at first either, but still! *hugs Zapbrainagain*
May 3, 2012 at 5:37 am
There are some serious bad-ass anime fans on this forum, with down-thumbs of steel.
May 2, 2012 at 2:47 pm
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May 2, 2012 at 3:04 pm
Because she’s supposed to be Eve? Duh?
May 2, 2012 at 6:40 pm
It took me until today to realize that your name is Geisha with an upside-down g. This whole time I’ve been reading it as “six name of Mohammed’s wife” (although I that was spelled differently.)
May 3, 2012 at 3:01 am
Majestic lol.
…It’s supposed to be written in l33t.
May 2, 2012 at 4:49 pm
my aunt doesn’t have a belly button. for realz.
May 2, 2012 at 8:25 pm
Hidden due to the navel simulating an “erogenic orifice”.
May 5, 2012 at 1:28 pm
Because she’s a Nine.
May 2, 2012 at 2:28 pm
As a woman with no boobs, I have to say this to the ivy top disaster: If you don’t got it, you can’t flaunt it. You just look like a teenager boy.
May 2, 2012 at 2:29 pm
Ugh, teenage* it’s already been a long day.
May 2, 2012 at 7:37 pm
Teenaged!
May 2, 2012 at 9:27 pm
Someone save me and get me a drink!
May 2, 2012 at 2:39 pm
although she is flaunting the Hell out of that pubic Invader Zim tattoo.
SO TRIBAL!
May 2, 2012 at 2:39 pm
Just imagine one of us bustier girls wearing it.. I don’t think you could flaunt much of anything but your bad taste while wearing that top.
May 2, 2012 at 3:56 pm
But the listing says the model is a 34D. And I believe everything a seller writes!
…Hell, I’ve always thought I’m a 34D. But if that’s a D-cup, I must be in On Beyond Zebra territory!
May 2, 2012 at 4:09 pm
If she’s a D, then I’m probably a triple-X.
May 2, 2012 at 4:10 pm
Seuss! Where there boobs in that book? I was so young!
May 2, 2012 at 5:29 pm
I think you’re thinking of “The Seven Lady Godivas”.
May 2, 2012 at 6:40 pm
Oh, please. We know you. You were more interested in whether Bartholomew Cubbins was going to take anything else off.
May 2, 2012 at 4:39 pm
*Tissues sold in another listing
May 2, 2012 at 7:05 pm
D stands for dreaming as in dreaming of a 34 D.
May 2, 2012 at 8:18 pm
yah, shes a 34D-pressing
May 2, 2012 at 8:27 pm
I’d believe #1′s a 34D before #2. Hell, I’d believe the manikin head’s a 34D first.
May 2, 2012 at 9:46 pm
To be fair, bra sizing as we know it is fucked up, and 34D is actually not very big. More specifically, 34 isn’t as teeny tiny as Victoria’s Secret wants you to think!
http://www.knickersblog.com/americas-denial-of-larger-cup-bras/986
bfcidade.wordpress.com/2010/04/16/what-does-it-mean-to-wear-d-or-dd-cups/
(Yes, I finally joined in order to post about boobs. Sorry.)
May 2, 2012 at 2:29 pm
I thought mermaids lived in schools, not tribes.
May 2, 2012 at 2:58 pm
Only the snooty intellectual elite mermaids live in schools. The tribal ones live in rent-controlled aquariums.
May 2, 2012 at 3:12 pm
The rest of them live in whore houses. Not a lot of career opportunities for mermaids.
May 2, 2012 at 4:18 pm
I believe they prefer to be called “aquatic escorts”.
And guys, if you ever want to breathe again, DO NOT make jokes about “taking the bus to tuna town” around the escorts.
May 2, 2012 at 4:50 pm
Not so! Weeki Wachee survives!
May 2, 2012 at 8:06 pm
I don’t know if that’s the best career for a creature that is half fish.
May 3, 2012 at 8:23 am
Beats working as sushi.
May 2, 2012 at 2:29 pm
Ah yes, fine traditional crafts from the Hippie and Hipster tribes.
May 2, 2012 at 2:30 pm
I prefer the cupcake Tribe
May 2, 2012 at 2:57 pm
May 2, 2012 at 3:50 pm
I didn’t think I’d get the chance to use this again so soon.
May 2, 2012 at 6:49 pm
Well, my ancestors DIDN’T kill them. Half were in Italy, half were Amish. The latter being pacifists who refused to fight back even when attacked and in one incident kidnapped by Native Americans (it was some of my family members, in fact, who were killed).
So do I get a free pass? Of course not.
Cultural sensitivity shouldn’t have anything to do with something one’s ancestors did (or didn’t do). It should have to do ONLY with the desire not to cause further pain to a fellow human being who is suffering from past or current trauma.
We shouldn’t take credit – or blame – for anything our ancestors did. The only thing we’re responsible for is what WE do. And we’re all equally responsible for sensitivity just by virtue of being members of the human race.
May 2, 2012 at 11:06 pm
No, you see, the problem isn’t just that the First Nations were killed, its the continued efforts destroy their cultures(which was successful in many cases), and the cheapening of it into a parody of their traditions.
The ENTIRE issue here is the very real struggle of cultural appropriation, abuse and oppression that continues even today. Ignoring and denying a very effective Genocide is no way to heal the wounds left by it.
I’m surprised I got a comment and will admit I’m taking some hostility on you because in the post of one of the artists complaining about being featured there were maybe two mentions of cultural appropriation.
May 3, 2012 at 9:35 am
I’m all for Native Americans co-opting our culture of greed and lust for easy money by opening casinos and bleeding their oppressors dry.
May 3, 2012 at 5:46 am
I must have this. I simply must.
May 2, 2012 at 2:29 pm
Wow, I got so excited when I saw this, because I sell tribal stuff, I thought maybe I finally made the Regretsy cut!
But no, this isn’t about real tribal, just hipster crap. Oh well.
May 2, 2012 at 2:32 pm
real, quality tribal gear?! surely you mistake the noble aim of our group…
May 2, 2012 at 2:33 pm
I know, what was I thinking?
May 2, 2012 at 4:10 pm
Etsy crafts: the box wine to your aged oaken cask.
May 3, 2012 at 8:25 am
Regretsy crafts is most entertaining when it features Etsy’s boxed whines.
May 2, 2012 at 4:53 pm
What is “real tribal” ? Are you a member of a recognized tribe making culturally traditional pieces? I think all “tribal” is colonialist insomuch as it depends on an appropriated Other and this idea that all non white people are somehow members of some generic Tribe that falls under the umbrella term “Tribal.”
May 2, 2012 at 6:46 pm
I like your work. But of all the beautiful pieces that have “Native American” inspiration or components, why did you label one “Bohemian Tribal”?
May 2, 2012 at 7:01 pm
Thanks for the compliment. I have one thing labeled Native American Mythical Twin Mermaids because I create mermaids from different cultures and Passamaquoddy legend has the story of Ne Hwas. Most people who know this story don’t know to search for Passamaquoddy or Ne Hwas and I want them to find it. I have no other pieces that say Native American Inspired. Or I shouldn’t.
I wrote a piece on my blog about changing out all the “tribal” words from my jewelry after realizing how colonialist the word was. I also discussed how, when making a certain style of jewelry, it is quite difficult to get views from the buyers who you are designing for when all the catch phrases that describe your work are racist and problematic. Tribal. Gypsy. Etc. I have no problem with “Bohemian.” I must have forgotten to change that one. Won’t deny for a moment that I was participating in this crap when I tagged them.
May 2, 2012 at 7:03 pm
Also, you might want to read the entire description of the mermaid doll and read my disclaimer that has always been at the bottom of anything I have ever made that was “Native American Inspired” including my wrap bracelets:
“**Note: Since the story of Ne Hwas belongs to the Passamaquoddy people, and I don’t believe it is right to take from a culture without giving back, $5 of this mermaid sale will be donated to The American Indian Education Foundation (AIEF), a NRC program that helps to provide scholarships and educational tools to American Indian people in need. I encourage every Etsy artist who is not a member of a recognized tribe, but creates jewelry and art inspired by Native American culture to please give a portion of your profits to a Native American charity so that we may give back to people that have given and lost so much.”
Last year I raised over $100 in donations to AIEF via the sales of my mermaids. Maybe should have mentioned that when you called me out.
May 2, 2012 at 8:21 pm
COOL STORY BRO
May 2, 2012 at 8:24 pm
woah, woah! I wouldn’t count what was said as a calling out. Just a question. Remember, it is hard to judge how something is being said on the internet. This is why we should all be more obvious with our comments. If Maple was being critical they need to be sure and throw in some insults for clarification. For example it could have read:
“Why the fuck did you label one “Bohemian Tribal,”bitch?”
My suggestions are bold for emphasis.
May 2, 2012 at 8:36 pm
amurana, yeah i wasn’t as aggro as it sounded either. i thought she had a good point. i just think it’s different to take specific stories and to create art inspired by that and to throw a bunch of feathers onto leather with a bead and to call it tribal or native american, but i am biased.
May 2, 2012 at 8:08 pm
I sell vintage clothing and jewelry that was made by tribal people in Central Asia, South Asia, and North Africa. My friends & relatives in those areas are not offended by the term tribal.
May 2, 2012 at 10:19 pm
So where exactly does the word ‘colonialist’ derive it’s meaning from if not some conception of what it means to have been a colonist, abstracted from specific historical examples? The word ‘tribal’, which has been used anthropologically to mean cultures at a certain level of social organization, has an attached conception of what it means to live in a tribe including motifs drawn from historical examples.
I guess the important distinction you are trying to make is which tribe you fall under, but I think if you’re using either word in a pejorative sense a lot of history is probably being ignored.
May 3, 2012 at 2:42 pm
But what about the poor little cupcakes, who will speak for the CUPCAKES?!?
May 3, 2012 at 7:48 pm
Fuck them.
May 2, 2012 at 7:06 pm
My art history professor from Africa told us tribal is an insulting and derogatory term to use. He told us this after we had all used the word tribal like 50 times in our exams…the class felt like one unified asshole
May 2, 2012 at 7:26 pm
maybe that is the definition of tribe (that these people belong to above) that someone was looking for below.
“one unified asshole”
May 2, 2012 at 11:14 pm
I’m curious – Did your prof find it insulting because he is a non-tribe dwelling African – maybe he’s an urban snob who didn’t want people to mistake him for someone who lives a less ‘sophisticated’ lifestyle.
Professors can be wrong, ya know. Douchbags, as well.
May 4, 2012 at 8:52 am
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May 2, 2012 at 2:30 pm
I think the surprise at a fringed, horned headdress would subside about halfway into wearing it forever.
May 3, 2012 at 4:22 pm
Maybe the surprise is all the shit you run into because you can’t see anything.
May 2, 2012 at 2:30 pm
Depends on the tribe I guess…
these are certainly none I’ve heard of before
May 2, 2012 at 2:37 pm
I am hoping the first one is the tribe of deliciously freckled redheads and someday I will go to there.
May 2, 2012 at 5:10 pm
Classy. If I’d tried to say that, it’d be all creepy.
May 2, 2012 at 2:31 pm
A TRIBE CALLED JEST
May 2, 2012 at 2:48 pm
A Tribe Called Bullshit
May 2, 2012 at 3:26 pm
A tribe called. Their village idiots are missing.
May 2, 2012 at 7:09 pm
Then, one day, the two tribes met and become one and now they are known as Tribe Jest Bullshit.
May 2, 2012 at 2:31 pm
Ah Yes…the tribe known as Hipster Fail.
May 2, 2012 at 2:32 pm
Kourtney Kardashian must be desperate if she has to model headdresses on Etsy.
May 2, 2012 at 2:32 pm
I had no idea that “TRIBAL” meant “LOOK LIKE AN IDIOT WHILE WEARING”. I’m sure Pocahontas is doing double-dutch in her grave.
May 2, 2012 at 2:33 pm
Where are the Fake Tribal Bullshit Police Investigators when you need them???
May 2, 2012 at 7:35 pm
They are at rennfaires and faerycons investigating the belly dancers who use the term ‘tribal’ to mean Near Eastern, post-hippie, cross cultural dance.
May 2, 2012 at 2:33 pm
I can hear Christopher Walken reading the last one.
May 2, 2012 at 5:37 pm
Love your name! Animaniacs forever!
May 2, 2012 at 2:33 pm
We have very little Native American blood in us. My mom’s side of the family, her father’s parents- and the genealogy trail goes cold. If what we believe is true, I’m just short of 1/4 Blackfoot Sioux.
Why am I telling you this?
Because this fucking mess has me offended on behalf of who may or may not be My People.
May 2, 2012 at 3:11 pm
I’m 1/32 Cherokee, and I joined that “offended on behalf of” club, too.
May 2, 2012 at 3:32 pm
May I feel offened by proxy? I’ll be on the side with a “My people came from Europe in the 20th century. We settled in NYC and we don’t believe in this pseudo tribal shit” sign, if that’s ok.
May 2, 2012 at 4:11 pm
We came over in the 1500s or early 1600s. There isn’t anything that isn’t in my blood. For those drops, I feel offense.
May 2, 2012 at 4:43 pm
I am SO fucking envious of families such as yours, all the history your ancestors have witnessed, good and bad. I used to work with a man whose 4 grandfathers fought in the Civil War, on the coughwinningcough side.
May 2, 2012 at 4:53 pm
Surely, though, Mugsy, your family witnessed stuff too, just not on this continent?
(Attempting to be comforting, rather than difficult.)
May 2, 2012 at 5:14 pm
Those histories aren’t as easily tracked as U.S. ones are. One of the exciting things about this country is how much we’ve accomplished in a relatively short amount of time: A few centuries, not hundreds of them.
(I took your post as “Hey, don’t forget your heritage!”, not as you being difficult. Thanks.
)
May 2, 2012 at 5:53 pm
Hell, my 10x great grandfather was a pirate/privateer captain in New Amsterdam, who’s either brother or father helped lead a massacre on a completely innocent tribe (as I understand it, one tribe attacked, they couldn’t find that tribe, but thought this other one would do nicely) and I find this offensive!
May 2, 2012 at 6:02 pm
One side of the family has a long history. On the other side, I’m like 5th gen. German. But, I mean, most of my ancestors were fur trappers or moonshiners. My grandpa was also the black sheep of his line, so I know very little about the direct tree up from him, though I can trace my name back all the way to France, through 16 generations.
May 2, 2012 at 6:24 pm
I am about to win this conversation, because my great-great-great-great-great uncle was JOHNNY FUCKING APPLESEED.
May 2, 2012 at 6:38 pm
*Looking around uncomfortably, feeling embarrassed for LouisattheLast*
Uh, LouisattheLast, It’s a great story and all, but, well…you DO know that Johnny Appleseed wasn’t a real person, right? Like Paul Bunyon or Tom Sawyer or Dick Cheney?
May 2, 2012 at 7:02 pm
Uh, Mugsy . . . ?
John Chapman, a/k/a “Johnny Appleseed” – born 1774, died 1845.
Very much a real person. His grave is in my hometown (Ft. Wayne, IN).
May 2, 2012 at 7:10 pm
And his sister was my great x 5 grandmother. Yup. He was quite literally a backwoods barefoot peace and love vegetarian hippie WAY before it was cool to be. And yes, he really did plant a lot of apple trees. A LOT of them. But they weren’t for eating. They were for making alcoholic cider, which is way cooler.
May 2, 2012 at 7:12 pm
Damn it, my sarcasm font html failed! (I thought the mention of Dick Cheney as a fictional character would have given away the fact I was not serious! I know he was a real person.)
May 2, 2012 at 7:15 pm
Are we gonna play this game, Louisathelast? It’s on like Donkey Kong.
I’m related to a very famous Louis, Louisathelast. Or should I say, a Lewis. My screen name is not Land C fan, although even I sometimes read it like that. It’s L and C fan. Lewis and Clark. Lewis was a very distant cousin of mine. Also, let me make this clear: I am a fan of their bravery and their hard work. I am NO fan of what happened to the peoples they encountered (although those two weren’t too bad themselves. In later life, Lewis ordered one massacre, but he was not right in the head at the time (depression or bipolar, alcoholism, possibly on opiates, and killed himself only a few years after the expedition, although some say it was murder, after reportedly acting batshit for days.) However, it has been suggested that before the expedition, he was a supporter of Cherokee rights.
May 2, 2012 at 7:20 pm
Clark had great sympathy for the natives. He ensured that Sacajawea’s son was properly educated, and spoke out against the Cherokee Trail of Tears (considering he died partway through the Trail of Tears, imagine if you will an old man pretty much on his deathbed as the head of the department dealing with Indians, trying to tell Washington that there are horrible conditions that winter out west, and that they shouldn’t send the Cherokees out there, only to be ignored).
May 2, 2012 at 7:25 pm
Also, my great grandfather was a 33rd degree Freemason, who led the same lodge George Washington did.
May 2, 2012 at 7:45 pm
Re Johnny Appleseed… but apples don’t fruit true – and he must have known that.
May 2, 2012 at 9:09 pm
That is true, they don’t. But sour cider apples fare better than sweet eating apples when started from seed, and it’s a hell of a lot easier to carry seeds around than grafts. He was starting nurseries, not orchards.
And yeah, I know there are more dignified ancestors to have (it’s Louisa, by the way, not Louis- though of course it’s the same root) but I love my great whatever uncle for being batshit insane enough that often people (not Bugsy) really do think he was fictional.
I did have great-somethingth grandfather who worked at Monticello, though, as some kind of general handyman. And was apparently a deadbeat, to judge by the notes online- Richard Sorrels, if you’re curious. Apparently he kept borrowing money from Jefferson and not paying it back.
May 2, 2012 at 10:07 pm
He may have met Lewis then. He was TJ’s aide de camp for a while, and their plantations were by the same town.
May 2, 2012 at 10:09 pm
Also, as for the dignified part, that wasn’t my intent. I was kinda messing with you. Besides, my relation to Lewis is much more distant than yours to Johnny Appleseed.
May 3, 2012 at 1:34 pm
For what it’s worth – here’s my two cents:
My great great great great grandmother (Named Mary Cary), courted a man named George Washington. She brought him home to meet her parents and her dad threw him out of the house saying “He will never amount to anything.” Story has been verified on several accounts.
So…..Perhaps this was the life changing event that inspired good old George to go out and make something of himself… who knows?
May 3, 2012 at 5:01 pm
To toss mine on the pile, my however-many-greats-uncle was Sir Francis Drake. My paternal grandmother’s side is British and kinda la-di-dah, so it’s been traced quite far back. The rest, not so much. Lots of British, a little bit of Scottish and German. So yes, I am of the Celtic translucent skintone.
May 4, 2012 at 12:17 am
landcfan – Hi, cousin-many-times-removed! I’m connected on the Meriwether side.
May 2, 2012 at 3:36 pm
There’s a rumor on my mom’s side of the family that there’s Native American blood in us. We’re not sure. But I’m willing to join your “offended on behalf of” club on a tentative basis.
May 2, 2012 at 4:55 pm
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May 2, 2012 at 5:13 pm
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May 2, 2012 at 5:26 pm
No, they just don’t want to hear that random person #122 on the Internet, as well as the federal government, has the power to dictate that they “aren’t allowed to claim” something that, in many cases, may be important to their family for several generations — regardless of whether they look “white” to you.
[insert obligatory "just sayin'" here]
May 2, 2012 at 7:16 pm
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May 2, 2012 at 7:21 pm
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May 2, 2012 at 7:25 pm
Oh davkadeergirl, I’m fully aware that it does, but it is offensive, it’s like the old days when they used to refer to any non white culture as native in a derogatory manner.
And now I’ll shaddup, ‘kay?
May 2, 2012 at 7:28 pm
OH BLUE PANDA!
It’s offensive to some and some consider it to rightly represent history and pride. It’s a debatable term, but definitely I agree it is less than desirable.
May 2, 2012 at 8:12 pm
Look. Here it is (and by the way, you are the first Random Internet Person to ever make me truly lose my temper): I have met those people who have been told that they have Indian ancestry. I know that they are mistaken (at best), and they do some stupid things, and that is supposed to justify them. I have ALWAYS done my utmost to NOT BE THAT PERSON. Like the girl I met once who told me she was “Iroquois” but didn’t know WHICH Iroquois tribe, or even that that was q valid question. I have never claimed heritage, only ancestry. To honor that ancestry, I have done research, read, talked with my grandmother about her family, and I have tried to remember my family and honor them and their forebears, just as I have done for the Irish, Scottish, and Welsh ancestors in both parents lineages. What you are saying is that I don’t have the right, and that is utterly wrong of you.
May 2, 2012 at 8:35 pm
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May 2, 2012 at 8:45 pm
I have a feeling this post isn’t going to go in the place I want it to….
There is a big difference between heritage..and ancestry. Heritage are things passed down to you, stories, traditions. People who have never been a part of tribal culture have no tribal heritage, they have ancestry. And contrary to popular belief, less than 5% of white Americans have even one Native ancestor…if all the blood myths were true, Natives wouldn’t only make up 1.9% of the population. The Cherokee are a large Nation…and they have extremely lax enrollment policies, only requiring one is able to locate an ancestor on rolls and census’…Pretty simple for those who actually have the ancestry.
I spend a good deal of my childhood on a Six Nations Res, as my Gramps is Mohawk…I’ve never once heard anyone claim they loved screwing white people. I am not Mohawk, as the Mohawk say I am not…but I do have just as many Mohawks in my tree as Anishinaabe.
May 2, 2012 at 8:39 pm
oh dear god, are you really insisting that if there is american indian blood in white families it is because american indians “loved screwing white people” and not because of rape, intermarriage, etc?
oh dear.
May 2, 2012 at 8:49 pm
my comment was to the one above you.
May 2, 2012 at 8:56 pm
My ex-husband is a casino dividend collecting, literally card-carrying member of the Saginaw-Chippewa tribe. I henceforth may legitimately declare that I *had* some Native American in me. /rim shot
May 2, 2012 at 5:23 pm
Is it then inappropriate to say that one’s ancestors were Cherokee (or [insert nation here])? Because I’ve always handled this issue by saying “Apparently, one of my great-grandfathers married a woman who was related to Sitting Bull, but I heard this late enough in life that I’m slightly suspicious of the notion,” but for those who have more definite ideas that their ancestors were of a particular people, I’m curious what the PC way to say this is.
I generally sit in the camp of “No one listens to me complain about my people’s culture-wide Stockholm Syndrome on St. Patrick’s Day, so let’s all just gleefully participate in the who-the-fuck-am-I stuff,” but I’m curious.
Also, having known some VERY white-looking Native Americans who grew up Cahuilla but weren’t registered tribal members, I’m gagging slightly on the idea that registering with the federal government is necessary to identify with a Native American tribe, but maybe that’s me.
May 2, 2012 at 5:30 pm
Stating that you have ancestors is fine….as long as people are willing to acknowledge the ridiculous amount of blood myths that float around…especially concerning Cherokee/Blackfoot. What gets most Indians, is when a person says I am ‘fraction amount’ ____ tribe or ‘part’ Native too. That isn’t the way our societies work. If you are not a tribal citizen…or at least recognized by the tribe for those who don’t make enrollment cuts…then you aren’t Indian. You are a person with ancestry. We have to draw lines somewhere, otherwise our very identity will be taken too. Our lands are gone, our right to self-govern gone, our spiritual symbols co-opted, our spirituality twisted and rewritten on new-age websites…and now people want our identity too. Tribes make their own citizenship requirements…and the Cherokee are very lax compared to many other Nations. They have the final say who is one of them, and who isn’t…not the government.
May 2, 2012 at 5:32 pm
Do you realize how many people do things just like this article points out and claim it’s all cool, dude, because like, my great great grandma was Cherokee! How disrespectful it is to real American Indians who live every day fighting to have authentic representation and voices and history and culture amidst the flood of fake American Indian shit everywhere, INCLUDING this idea that having some great great great grand-blood drop is what constitutes a tribal identity? Do people really think it’s that flimsy and meaningless that anyone can just claim it? Or perhaps you should reach up on just how many white people try to claim Native American Ancestry on college applications to get scholarships? It isn’t about registering with the Federal government. It is about registering with a real tribe that requires more than a family legend to join even if you watched Last of the Mohicans or Dances with Wolves too many times.
May 2, 2012 at 5:40 pm
Everybody wants to be Cherokee or “Native American” or “Tribal” when it means wearing feathers and claiming to be a Shaman or going to a Sweat Lodge, but where are all of these supposed “Native Americans” when people are fighting toxic waste dumping on reservation land or when people are living in third world conditions on reservations while people claiming a great great grandma are making a thousand dollars a person is overcramped sweat lodges and “vision quest” seminars? When people are fighting for their sacred burial lands against encroachment and grave robbery (aka archaeology) and all the other ugly shit that goes with being the victims of a pretty recent genocide? Suddenly being Cherokee isn’t so trendy when it actually requires you to do shit that makes a difference.
May 2, 2012 at 6:08 pm
I’m very aware that many people use their “oh I’m part whatever” as a means of excusing themselves for appropriating other people’s culture. However, an honest appreciation for the ethnic identity of an ancestor, which is what the people in this thread are showing, does not strike me as deserving of your (otherwise justified) anger.
Especially since the underlying message of the comments here has been “I have an ancestor who identified with a Native people, but I would never be so crass as to think that ‘crafts’ like the above are okay.”
Incidentally? I’m as white as they come. And when the shopping developments started being planned so they’d stare over the annual agave harvest, I was standing right there at the protests; when the ownership of Native American remains by their descendants vs. by archaeologists was disputed, I was writing letters. Caring about this things is not a merit badge for tribal membership; it’s just being an aware person.
May 2, 2012 at 6:15 pm
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May 2, 2012 at 6:18 pm
Also this has NOTHING to do with the way someone looks or skin tone or looking Native American enough. It is about cultural history, family history and traditions, community responsibilities, identity rooted in lived experience and responsibility and often times- a lot of bad shit that happens to you when you’re apart of a marginalized group, and nothing at all with me thinking someone is not dark enough. Not even sure where you got that?
Also, tribed are recognized federally not because the goverment just couldn’t wait to give them rights and some self-determination, but because people fought like hell for this little semblance of identity and culture. It’s important to be in one of these recognized tribes because if not, anyone who is anyone can join the Rainbow Crystal GlitterBear Dancing Shadow Tribe that claims blood roots and takes on ridiculous names and tours the country claiming to represent real American Indians.
May 2, 2012 at 6:50 pm
I’ve heard that my father was part “American Indian,” but never got any clarification and don’t feel any need or desire to claim a heritage I know absolutely nothing about.
But regardless of what else is discussed in this thread, I think that someone should make up membership certificates for the Rainbow Crystal GlitterBear Dancing Shadow Tribe.
May 2, 2012 at 7:06 pm
hehe that would be a hilarious certificate. The Clan of the Crying Eagle.
May 2, 2012 at 7:12 pm
Or one can forfeit their next five or six paycheques, and join up with White Ego Woman and the Whirling Rainbow Generokee Pretendian society. Unfortunately there is no shortage of such new-age Culture Vulture groups willing to take advantage of the spiritually lost.
http://whirlingrainbow.com/whiteeagle.htm
May 2, 2012 at 7:08 pm
“Also, I’m sorry to break it you but these ‘ancestors’ just do not exist. They are myths.”
I am really interested in hearing the logic behind how you know this when it’s someone you don’t know and whose family history you have not personally traced.
Are you omniscient?
May 2, 2012 at 7:14 pm
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May 2, 2012 at 7:18 pm
It’s like Wilma ManKiller said to a tour bus full of white people who pulled into the reservation one day and asked, “Where are all the Indians?”
She looked at her watch and said, “Well, it’s about 2 pm, they are probably at Wal Mart.”
Those white people were mad they didn’t see any REAL Indians that day- you know, not normal people in jeans and tshirts buying household items, but Medicine men and war-bonnets and eagle feathers!
The New Age cults rage on (all the white people will be indians)
and we want to be related to Sitting Bull! (all the indians will be ghosts)
May 3, 2012 at 12:59 am
Chances American Indian ancestry are very small, but still possible. Dismissing a claim without investigation does no one any good. A recent episode of “Finding Your Roots” featured Ruth Simmons, president of Brown University, and it turned out that the rumor was true in her case. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., the host, said it was the first time he had come across that. So it does happen. It’s extremely rare, sure, but it happens.
And a person saying they are part Native American is seen as similar to saying they are part German or part Korean. They are being inclusive of all their ancestors and conveying their pride in their origins. But people will get butthurt over any little thing these days.
May 2, 2012 at 6:40 pm
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May 2, 2012 at 6:52 pm
Perpetuating the myth of free money is just as bad as peddling crafts that you have assigned to a particular culture that you have no affiliation with.
May 2, 2012 at 7:05 pm
How about the $30 billion dollars worth of natural resources the federal government ADMITTED was taken from the Indians (and I’m not talking about the stuff from way back), which they decided last month only merited being given back $3 billion spread thinly between tribes? What about that money?
(Yes, I did see Dennis Banks speak on Monday. Can you tell?)
May 2, 2012 at 7:46 pm
No Shit, I know that knowing my grandmothers grandfather was Cherokee means I know I’m not. I don’t particularly to just forget about him and my mother’s heritage. It’s all fine and dandy that I can wear green and get drunk once a year considering I have less Irish blood than Cherokee, (considering that ancestor fought in the American Revolution.) Knowing about that guy doesn’t mean I’m moving to Ireland and making shitty headbands with shamrocks on it. Knowing that my grandmother’s grandfather was Cherokee only makes me more aware of the worst that can, and did, happen.
I know goddamn well that there’s no such thing as and Indian Princess, and I have no desire to go join a tribe because “it’s cool.” I only wish to remember my grandmother’s family with as much honor as I can remember my father’s family. And I don’t care if you have a problem with that.
So suck it.
May 2, 2012 at 7:56 pm
And I see above where you’re claiming that no Native American ever married a white person, ever. Thanks for clearing that up. In the meantime, can you explain why grandmother or her grandmother would just make up about how they had to tell neighbors they were “Black French” so that the menfolk could get jobs, because no one would hire a “damn drunk injun?” Can you tell me about how the documents I have lie about my great-grandmonther being born just outside of the Qualla Boundary (which by the way, is NOT a reservation), or about why in the world she would tell her daughters not to forget that they were really Cherokee, no matter what they told the rest of the world?
Because they decided NOT to announce to the Federal Government that they weren’t white doesn’t mean shit. I wouldn’t want the government knowing that, either, considering what came before.
FUCK YOU. How dare you.
May 2, 2012 at 8:05 pm
Then absolutely NONE of what has been said applies to you, does it? If you are one of the lucky few who can document their family’s Native ancestry, then that is great. That is what the Cherokee want….for you to prove it to them. They make the rules over who is Cherokee and who isn’t….and Qualla Boundary is one of the only places where intact tribal lines of heavy blood can be traced to…but you must acknowledge that a ridiculous amount of people claim Cherokee…and it was historically used as a cover for biracial black and white children, especially during the Freedmen era….which means the Cherokee had to revise enrollment policies to protect themselves from the blood myths.
May 2, 2012 at 8:39 pm
Although the Dawes Acts themselves are flawed, race-wise, making the whole black or Cherokee thing even more complicated, and leading to accusations of racism on the part of the Cherokees against African Americans.
For those who have no idea what the hell I just said: the Dawes Rolls were documents made by the U.S. government (I seriously think they sent like one guy) after the Cherokee removal to Oklahoma to document the races of those living there. People would be judged pretty much by their appearances, so brothers could be counted as different races. There had been racial mixing which would make such designations anything but clear cut anyway. The Cherokees had black slaves who went with them, and some had children with each other. Now, the Cherokees allow those who have an ancestor listed in the Dawes Rolls as Cherokee to be members, much to the chagrin of people descended from those listed as black, who may have been Cherokee as well.
May 2, 2012 at 8:45 pm
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May 2, 2012 at 10:30 pm
Rhapsody, I’m on board with everything you’re saying, so I kind of wish you had a different avatar because it’s making me hear your posts in Applejack’s mad voice. Also, that episode about the buffalo.
May 2, 2012 at 11:48 pm
Wait, if your grandmother’s grandfather was Cherokee, wouldn’t that be 1/16? And somewhere I thought you said your grandmother’s grandmother. I’m not calling you out on it, you seem to have looked into it quite thoroughly, but as someone with OCD and an interest in geneology, I get hung up on details, and I am confused (once again, do not mistake my confusion for a rebuttal. Don’t hurt me…)
May 3, 2012 at 5:53 am
Many Cherokee didn’t sign the register way back when because they didn’t trust the US government. For good reason. As a result, there are MANY Cherokee descendants who will never be recognized by the federal government.
May 2, 2012 at 4:40 pm
We have some Cherokee in my family. I missed all the DNA though. My aunt hogged it all. She really doesn’t look Caucasian, but I’m the palest, pastiest person in the family, and they all mock my fear of the sun. But I still think this is offensive, even if I don’t have any Native Street Cred.
May 2, 2012 at 5:05 pm
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May 2, 2012 at 5:09 pm
It would be nice if ALL people stopped telling stories about their Cherokee or Blackfoot great-great-Granny…..not limited to whites.
May 2, 2012 at 5:20 pm
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May 2, 2012 at 5:34 pm
I thought a “tribe” was a self-identified group of people. As opposed to a Tribe, I suppose.
May 2, 2012 at 6:13 pm
Sociologically and anthropologically, it refers to a specific social structure, but which structure that is gets kinda nebulous. All my anthro professors used the word “group,” “society,” or occasionally “people” for that definition and “scene” or “subculture” for the self-defined group definition.
/pedantry!
May 2, 2012 at 7:50 pm
What’s even more offensive is people who get all pissed at people who try to research their lineage and find Native American in there.
Get pissed all you want about people who claim their “1/32″ or whatever Native American if you really want to. Seriously though, is there anything wrong with someone who simply embraces their heritage?
May 2, 2012 at 7:57 pm
I must answer 25+ a day, pointing people in the right direction when it comes to researching Native ancestry, on another site. WE encourage people to trace it, due to the ridiculous amount of blood myths that get passed from generation to generation. Its the difference between stating ‘I think/have ancestry’ and ‘I am __fraction Native too’ that irks many Natives….as these people don’t know what it means to live everyday as a Native person. I will gladly tell anyone who wants to know about certain aspects of Anishinaabe culture, to put to rest the myths….but I won’t tolerate someone expecting I should treat them like long-lost family because of an ancestor four or five generations back. Just as I don’t expect the Scottish to give me citizenship just because my paternal great-Grandfather immigrated from there. There is a difference between ancestry and being Native yourself, just as there is a difference between ancestry and heritage.
May 2, 2012 at 8:25 pm
I find this confusing. Does this only apply to “native Americans”? Are people also not allowed to say they are part German or Irish or Scandanavian because their grandparent or whatever was? If “part whatever” is not allowed how are you supposed to describe it?
May 2, 2012 at 8:32 pm
That would all depend on how the Germans/Irish/Scandinavians feel about it. I read many threads online where it gets discussed the phenomenon of listing every ethnic/cultural heritage of every person in your family tree and how many Europeans find it amusing. I can’t speak for any of those groups, as I don’t belong to them….I have no issue with the use of the term ancestry at all. I do meet people in my ‘real’ life that tell me they have Nishna ancestry….it leads to good discussion and sometimes ends with them finding out is just wasn’t so. Ancestry is a great word….
May 3, 2012 at 1:11 am
I’m German and I’ve lived in the US for a while. I actually had lots of fun and interesting conversations with folks who wanted to talk about their German ancestry (including teaching some German swear words here and there
). But I also have a friend who got blasted at a Scottish forum for using the “I’m x% Scottish” phrase, despite only wanting to trace his family on his father’s side.
The written records for my father’s family go back to the 13th century, mainly because they always stayed in the same area. So I’ve never had problems “knowing my roots” but I do understand how important it is to know where you come from. I just don’t get why people would rather claim random ancestry because “it’s cool” instead of finding out the facts. That kinda defeats the purpose.
May 4, 2012 at 10:51 pm
So Alaria, does it bother you if someone says they are “half German” even though they (and their parents/grandparents) were born in the US? Would “German ancestry” be the preferred way to state it, or something else? I am not being sarcastic here, I really want to know the right way to talk about it.
My dad used to teach German but sadly I only know a few basic words, plus most of the dog commands since my Shepherd’s previous owners trained her in German. I had to ask my dad how to pronounce some of the commands though and I ended up retraining her in English because I kept mixing them up. I’m pretty sure my dad learned German in school though and his parents didn’t speak it at home.
June 3, 2012 at 4:48 pm
I just came back to this thread so my appologies, I didn’t see your reply sooner: No, it really doesn’t bother me how people choose to talk about their heritage. The only time I got mad was a guy with a SS shirt bragging about his 1/16 German roots.
May 2, 2012 at 9:31 pm
My Russian great-grandmother was a Cherokee princess.
May 3, 2012 at 6:46 pm
I’m glad my (Cherokee & Delaware) grandpapa isn’t internet-savvy so he doesn’t have to see this crap… funny on the surface to laugh at stupid people, but kind of like pouring salt on a wound…
May 2, 2012 at 2:33 pm
Can we just retire “Tribal” as a descriptor? I mean, without even getting into the whole appropriation argument I think it’s clear that not many people even know what the fuck it means.
May 2, 2012 at 2:47 pm
Please. And anything “Amazon” or “Amazonian”, along with “Mermaid” and “Shaman”. Ye gods and little fishes, those ideas alone just caused two-thirds of Etsy to slide into a black hole. Well, I can dream, can’t I?
May 2, 2012 at 3:06 pm
But, but, without these yummy, lovely words our products wouldn’t be as magical. We’d have to title our stuff “idiot hair floss” and “boob cozies” and “dead turkey hat”. *pout*
June 5, 2012 at 1:11 am
If I could cross-stitch, this would be on my wall. Hell, I’m thinking it’s time to make a sampler from this thread!
May 2, 2012 at 3:29 pm
I suddenly have the urge to write stories about tribal shamanistic mermaids that live in the amazon….
May 2, 2012 at 3:34 pm
Don’t forget the legends of how they give awesome underwater blowjobs to marathon swimmers.
May 3, 2012 at 5:20 pm
I’d ask to keep mermaid off that list, just because it has a very specific, valid use that’s pretty common, even though cupcakes do misappropriate it. The others they should have to get a special clearance for. And of course just ditch “tribal”, with all its problems.
May 2, 2012 at 4:44 pm
*looks down at the anthropology book she’s reading*
How about only for people who don’t use it properly.
May 2, 2012 at 4:45 pm
As I can’t use question marks, I’m also off the list of people who can use tribal.
May 2, 2012 at 5:31 pm
My degree is in anthropology, but I work as a copywriter — so I spend a lot, A LOT, of time, trying to find ways to excise the horrible horrible word “tribal” from offensive locations without losing the search traffic of people who think it actually MEANS hipsterdoucheappropriationomgCUTE!
“Inspired by the ‘tribal’ styles now appearing on the world’s runways” is the best I’ve come up with so far. I wish to dog I could think of a better one.
May 2, 2012 at 7:24 pm
Yeah, this is understandable and I wrote about it recently for a group of artists, myself included, who are trying to show up in the searches and sell our art without selling our souls, but so far, not much luck. Let me know what you come up with. I changed one pair of earrings from tribal to bohemian hippie and actually got a lot more views and sales.
May 2, 2012 at 10:49 pm
You’ve probably given this a lot more thought than I have, but I’m curious how someone can be appropriating a culture if no one can define or identify which culture that is. It seems like the items listed as being tribal embrace the nebulousness of that term so if they only kind of look like something Native American/South American (which as labels seem so generic as to be offensive in themselves; are all people indigenous to the Americas culturally the same?) and don’t claim to be representative of a particular tribe then what is being appropriated?
May 3, 2012 at 4:31 am
Perhaps because to your average person, we are only one homogenous group….They don’t see us as the hundreds and hundreds of individual cultures that we are. No one seems to know that dreamcatchers are from ONE Native culture specifically….they get applied to all. Or that certain geometric prints represent a few distinct tribes in one area. Or that ‘tribal’ eagles/ravens/whales and totem poles are only specific to one tribe. While we are still different culturally and spiritually, in modern times we have had to come together on this to protect ourselves as our voice is too small individually..not that many people are listening anyways. The word tribal isn’t so bad..except that it gets slapped on anything with some leather and feathers…like no other cultures ever used those things. Its the term Native inspired I hate…how can you be inspired by something you don’t know the significance behind and won’t take the time to figure out what you have done wrong?
May 3, 2012 at 12:42 pm
I am curious- would you feel better about it if it was said to be inspired by a specific and researched tribe, or would it still be just as bad?
Say for instance that I particularly liked the Tlingit story of Raven, particularly of how Raven was turned black, and wanted to make a print representing the story using the Big Lake Tribe’s art style- could that be labeled ‘Tlingit inspired,’ or does my pasty white heritage make that inappropriate also?
May 3, 2012 at 1:13 pm
My comment may have ended up somewhere else? I LOVE Haida art…but have met Haida that want to vomit everytime they see one of their symbols used as a tattoo on a non-Haida. Not many people are going to put the effort into the research….were you to call the Tlingit and ask them about the Raven, and what is a respectful way to portray it, they would be overjoyed and would give you all the information you need. It may be taboo, or it may only be appropriate at certain times of year. Our stories and spiritualities are complex. The use of ‘inspired’ irks me..there are currently 3000+ items tagged as Navajo on Etsy, 98% of which are not even remotely Navajo, or even ‘generic’ Native. The Navajo have had to go so far as to trademark their own name, to prevent it from being attached to flasks, underwear, bags, etc. You being white has nothing to do with it….its the manor in which it is approached. Contact the Tlingit and they will give you the information needed.
May 3, 2012 at 2:47 pm
Thank you for the reply- I’m not actually intending to make a print, it was a general question, but thank you for your time and civil response nonetheless.
Asking someone within the tribe is what I meant by a ‘specific and researched tribe’. There are so many nuances, even the different versions a single story could have depending on the specific tribe, that I could mix two ideas which absolutely DO NOT BELONG TOGETHER, and I would never know. Best to ask an expert.
I just wasn’t sure if it was disrespectful for someone who did not grow up with the myths and traditions to use them in any way whatsoever, or if there was an acceptable way to go about it- thank you for letting me know.
May 2, 2012 at 7:50 pm
From that description, I’m no longer sure what “exotic” means… as in “macrame knotting… adds an exotic flair”!
May 2, 2012 at 2:33 pm
Can she really call that Horse/Pillow (Porse? Horllow?) hybrid “taxidermy”?
Also how do they not realise that labelling any of this shit as “tribal” is all kinds of offensive?
May 2, 2012 at 2:53 pm
My little girl is still crying after seeing this pillow. And she’s 35.
May 2, 2012 at 3:33 pm
I’M still crying over that pillow. And I’m 57.
May 2, 2012 at 3:38 pm
My great-great-great-great Native American grandmother is still crying over that pillow. And she’s probably non-existent.
May 2, 2012 at 5:36 pm
I want to feed that pillow to the hawk from this morning, take a picture of the hawk eating the pillow and then decoupage it onto a dinner plate that may not be safe for eating from.
May 2, 2012 at 2:53 pm
Throw some beads and braided leather on that shit along with a whale tail and call it a “Hipster BoHo Mermaid Phantasy (sic) Tribal Shamanistic Douche Hat”. It’d break all sales records, especially if you note that it’ll align your chakras, give you more energy, keep your cheese fresh longer (inter-postality alert!) and call up the faery prince of your dreams *and* your very own rainbow-farting unicorn pony. For that last one, you might have to hot-glue a horn on the stuffed horse, though.
May 2, 2012 at 3:29 pm
1. What the fuck does BoHo mean?
2. I think the horsey pillow is cute as fuck and I want it.
3. Whenever I hear the term Tribal I always think of the tattoo style.
May 2, 2012 at 3:50 pm
Reference #1:
a. Short-form for “Bohemian”.
b. Short-form for “Pretentious Bitch-wear” (while there are males of the species, they are thankfully rare).
c. Shorter-short-form for “I’ve got a little money from that sweet little trust set up by Mummy and Daddy and I’m just struggling by in my loft in the Village and my groceries from Whole Foods and trying to show my artistic side by straggling around town in what looks like the Hell-mouth-shat-out-spawn of a mating of the Salvation Army and Value Village but actually cost more than the normal rent paid by the little people wear.”
d. Pre-cursor of today’s “Hipster”.
May 2, 2012 at 4:15 pm
Thanks TC. Every time I google a term I don’t know on this site, something traumatic pops up.
May 2, 2012 at 5:38 pm
But “bohemian” is a reference to the middle-east (i.e. Ottoman Empire), isn’t it???
I am SOOOOO CONFUSED
May 2, 2012 at 6:53 pm
Bohemia is a corner of Germany near Luxembourg.
May 2, 2012 at 7:30 pm
Yeah I thought it was a reference to a period of art and fashion from Europe.
May 2, 2012 at 7:54 pm
Eastern Europe rather than Middle East. Derogatory then, derogatory now.
June 22, 2012 at 4:50 am
Wait, why is “bohemian” offensive? There’s a style of bead and wire work that’s very popular, and a lot of people are calling it “gypsy chain”. Not wanting to be THAT PERSON, I asked my Roma friends about it, and they all agreed that “bohemian” was an appropriate term to use instead. I’ve been working very hard to get my fellow artists to stop saying “gypsy” about everything!
June 29, 2012 at 11:35 pm
As far as we’re (Romani) are concerned, Bohemian is an improvement over Gypsy, because some of us believe the term should be applied as a proper noun to those of us from that ethnic group. My Romani ancestors came from Bohemia, so I still cringe a little.
I was wondering when Ye Olde Gyppos were going to get a mention. We don’t have any organization so we’re fair game for everybody with body odor and a glue-gun.
May 2, 2012 at 4:16 pm
Item #2- I am so with you! That is even cuter than fuck, and I don’t know why it’s in the Hall of Shame. Except for the “tribal” reference, which may pertain to the fabric on the back.
May 3, 2012 at 8:54 am
I read #2 as “I think the horsey pillow is cute and I want to fuck it.” Is it Regretsy that does it to me? or was I always like this and I’ve simply found my home? (yes, I created an account to tell you all this. AHHHHH)
May 3, 2012 at 8:46 am
Wait, so Bohemian wear describes artistic and cultural wear of Europe with ties to an ancient Celtic tribe (The Boii) that settled in parts of Germany?
Doesn’t that describe most Americans heritage? Shouldn’t more people be wearing bohemian style clothing?
I guess I am doubly confused that bohemian is a dirty word now.
It makes total sense to me as I like bohemian-style clothing (not a Pretentious Bitch or well-to-do but the rest of C is accurate
) and also have a good portion of ancestry coming out of areas around Luxembourg.
I guess I have a new anthem:
I’m proud to be a Bohemian
where at least I know I’m hippy.
And I wont forget the men who tie-dyed,
who gave that right to me….
May 3, 2012 at 8:49 am
I also LOVE the Utha hats on the bottom. I never thought I would ever like pom-poms on a hat.
http://www.etsy.com/listing/94380610/black-ethnic-utha-pom-pom-ear?ref=v1_other_2
May 2, 2012 at 3:15 pm
If you click through to the pictures, the back of the pillow is I think what’s being referred to, and does look something like a Navajo blanket had a love child with Hot Topic, while smoking something. Which is perhaps the truest definition of tribal.
May 2, 2012 at 3:49 pm
If people would just be responsible and get their stuffies spayed or neutered, we wouldn’t have the problem of homeless and unloved stuffies. And we would be spared a lot of tears.
May 2, 2012 at 4:44 pm
WHICH ONE OF YOU FJLs BOUGHT IT? FESS UP!!!
May 2, 2012 at 2:34 pm
I can finally shop for next year’s Coachella in one place! Won’t [insert dead rapper resurrected in creepy hologram form] be jealous!?
May 2, 2012 at 2:36 pm
I don’t know which to disdain more on the second seller: the fact that she is trying to sell that as clothing, or that tacky as hell Gir clip art tattoo dangerously close to her crotch.
May 2, 2012 at 8:28 pm
I like Gir but I wouldn’t want him anywhere near my crotch.
May 2, 2012 at 2:37 pm
The horse pillow is like a terrible, adorable portal malfunction.
May 2, 2012 at 2:54 pm
I kind of love it. Think of how it would horrify children!
May 2, 2012 at 7:20 pm
Depends on the child. Mine would love it, but she’s weird like that.
May 2, 2012 at 3:00 pm
He got stuck trying to apparate.
May 2, 2012 at 3:37 pm
Erm, “splinched”. /Hermione
May 2, 2012 at 3:42 pm
I love that horsey pillow so much. Gives me a warm fuzzy feeling inside. I would buy it if the international shipping costs were affordable.
May 2, 2012 at 5:33 pm
Ifa, take a trip to your nearest thrift store, and buy a stuffed toy, a saw, and a pillow. For a fraction of the price, you get to laugh maniacally while sawing a stuffed animal in half. There are some things money can’t buy.
May 2, 2012 at 6:48 pm
I have a teddy bear candy dish at home that a friend made from a stuffed teddy bear. She cut a big circle in its tummy, scooped out a lot of stuffing, cut a Red Solo cut to fit up to the edge of the surgery and glued that sucker in. I told her she should have used red dye for the seeping blood. Oh well. He’s adorable and if you fill his tummy with candy, pick him up, and give him a good whack on his back (no stuffing), the candy erupts from his tummy like a recreation of “Alien.” I love him so hard.
May 2, 2012 at 2:37 pm
At first I thought the last one had Rice Krispie Treat horns.
In which case I might’ve bought it.
May 2, 2012 at 2:37 pm
That last hat was intriguing enough to click on… is it wrong to like some of her other pieces? They’re just crazy enough to work.
May 2, 2012 at 2:38 pm
Reminiscent of a piece of armor? There is no stitch known to man that would ever render crocheted yarn (worsted weight no less!) anything like armor.
May 2, 2012 at 2:48 pm
It’s reminiscent of fantasy armor, where the closer to naked a woman is, and the more vital areas she has exposed to swords, arrows, and other such nasties, the greater the bonus to her Constitution.
May 2, 2012 at 2:58 pm
I heartily agree, as a D&D player, I find that the less clothing you wear, the better your dodge skill. and you get extra appearance points
May 2, 2012 at 3:24 pm
I play a battlemage who tanks, dual-wields, and has a tendency to use Spirit and Entropic magic (fucks with your mana AND your mind). He doesn’t need quite so high a Dex stat, fortunately, so I can keep him wrapped up pretty tight.
He has absolutely FABULOUS hair, though. That has to count for something!
May 2, 2012 at 3:42 pm
I didn’t understand a word of that until “absolutely FABULOUS hair.”
May 2, 2012 at 3:57 pm
I find your comment arousing, despite my lack of a Y chromosome.
May 2, 2012 at 4:02 pm
That’s okay, Dawn. I employ an equal opportunity, first-come, first-serve policy.
Steampunk Octopus, it is so damn fabulous. I’m pretty sure he hits it with a lightning spell every morning.
May 2, 2012 at 4:16 pm
My female half-giant dragon shamen wears head to toe chiton fullplate. I still get a pretty good bonus to my charisma. Why yes, I am dating the dungeon master!
May 2, 2012 at 4:35 pm
…You weren’t kidding. His hair’s fabulous-ness is EPIC.
May 2, 2012 at 4:49 pm
@SpyGlassez, that never hurts! Although, armor doesn’t have to leave your entire midsection exposed to be hot, I will say that.
@AutobotDen, he has fabulous hair, wears robes (a.k.a. a man-dress), is all of five-foot-six because LOL elf, and has been known to sparkle pink when he’s got certain sustained effects on him. Then he has a deep-ass voice and is quite possibly the most astoundingly MASCULINE character I have ever had. I swear I wasn’t on anything when I made him.
May 2, 2012 at 5:35 pm
See, I have an elf ranger (male) in my Pathfinders game who wears scanty leather armor … with the lowest Charisma stat of the entire party. I like ‘em insanely contradictory. Relatedly, I think we should hang out.
May 2, 2012 at 5:37 pm
Also, this is your art, yes? Can I use the Art Nouveau one as a photoreference for something that will never see the light of day? I just love the pose to death.
May 2, 2012 at 5:49 pm
Scribblegoat, go ahead! Just link back to the piece if by chance it ever does see the light of day. I had fun doing that one, although it was weird trying to reconcile Art Nouveau with the fact that he doesn’t walk girly at all. (Really, I should get back to the Seasons series I’m doing for Dragon Age. I only got Autumn and Winter done.)
I still need to crochet that peacock-haired bastard. Him and his stupid flaming face that I’ll need to felt.
May 2, 2012 at 11:08 pm
OMG, I just finished watching the PAX Prime D&D session and was thinking how great it would be to start a FJL campaign, but in the back of my head there was this little voice saying “Naw, not even Regretsians are that nerdy.” And so my dreams of hand casting minifigs and drawing dungeon maps were put up on the shelf. Well, thank you for proving me wrong. As soon as I get paid I’m buying some d20 and a satchel full of glitter.
May 2, 2012 at 2:56 pm
That last one reminds me of a pinata. Festive and meant to be destroyed.
May 2, 2012 at 2:57 pm
uh oh. this was supposed to be at the bottom, not in reply. DERP
May 2, 2012 at 3:26 pm
Have you ever used Red Heart Worsted Weight Super Saver? That stuff could stop bullets.
May 2, 2012 at 3:45 pm
Oh, heck yeah. But she’ll need a tighter stitch like tunisian purl or something.
May 2, 2012 at 4:14 pm
Steamy, we’re both hookers!
/crocheting nerd
May 3, 2012 at 1:10 am
*high fives Mugsy*
May 2, 2012 at 7:21 pm
Yup, my husband made a dice bag out of that stuff and it’s like Kevlar (he had to use paracord to cinch it closed). Of course he does crochet super tight. Now I think I need to make a suit of armor out of silver Red Heart super saver.
May 2, 2012 at 2:38 pm
Boho and Tribal? SCORE!
May 2, 2012 at 2:41 pm
do mermaids live in tribes?
May 2, 2012 at 3:13 pm
Apparently. Who knew? Maybe the ones with seashell bras are in a different tribe from the ones that just grown their hair long?
May 2, 2012 at 4:17 pm
They snap their fingers and engage in tapdance wars.
May 2, 2012 at 9:52 pm
How do you tapdance war without feet?
May 2, 2012 at 11:51 pm
I’m now imagining Sharks vs. Jets with mermaids.
May 2, 2012 at 2:41 pm
The bisected woolen horse is fantastic , just imagine it with teddy bears , or even something really outragous like a cusion done up to resemble lava or something , then one could own their very own cuddly death scene!
dont judge me
May 2, 2012 at 4:38 pm
…I’d pay for a cuddly death scene.
May 2, 2012 at 2:42 pm
I go to a lot of powwows. I dance at a lot of powwows . And even I have no place to wear this stuff.
May 2, 2012 at 2:52 pm
Aw, hell, show up in one of these. People will love it! Or make you lie down in the shade and drink some Gatorade. One or the other.
May 2, 2012 at 3:13 pm
That’s because there IS not place to wear this stuff.
May 2, 2012 at 3:14 pm
*no. No place. Yeesh.
May 2, 2012 at 3:46 pm
Portland.
May 2, 2012 at 2:42 pm
Shoot I thought when you said “Tribal” We’d be seeing some Merkins for sale.
May 2, 2012 at 3:22 pm
you just added a word to my vocabulary. . . would rather you hadn’t XD
May 2, 2012 at 4:38 pm
Ah yes, the added Regretsy vocab…Mine was FUPA, and to my dismay that I kinda have one… T-T
May 2, 2012 at 4:38 pm
… I bet I could find merkins on Etsy.
May 2, 2012 at 4:49 pm
I bet I could find a hipster sucking down a PBR somewhere in downtown Manhattan just as quickly.
May 2, 2012 at 2:42 pm
When can we start the Hipster Genocide?
May 2, 2012 at 3:37 pm
What stops me is the fear of what will replace them.
May 2, 2012 at 4:25 pm
My only hope is that those tight skinny leg jeans all the hipster guys are wearing are drastically lowering their sperm count so that they lose the ability to reproduce, well, sexually reproduce anyways…sometimes a weak mind can be won over by their plague…
May 2, 2012 at 5:41 pm
when their children are 19. They’ll wind up killing themselves because of what their kids will become. That way our hands remain clean.
May 2, 2012 at 6:51 pm
But that means they’ll have to procreate.
*shudders*
May 2, 2012 at 2:43 pm
Is anyone else creeped out by the mermaid? She’s either the least lifelike person or the most lifelike mannequin. I honestly can’t figure out which.
May 2, 2012 at 2:48 pm
It’s a heavily photoshopped mannequin… I think. (I hope)… and yes, it’s boldly marching down the uncanny valley.
May 2, 2012 at 3:17 pm
definitely a mannequin, though i cant figure out why or even how it has a moustache.
May 2, 2012 at 3:40 pm
I can only see the moustache with my left egg. Either the wine or my glasses are responsible.
May 2, 2012 at 3:40 pm
Fuck. Left EYE.
May 2, 2012 at 3:43 pm
And I think the grammatically correct expression is “either the wine or the glasses IS responsible.” It’s the plural glasses makes it sound wrong. Or the wine. It’s still an option.
May 2, 2012 at 3:46 pm
Left egg was actually more entertaining.
May 2, 2012 at 3:48 pm
@bookmole — When in grammar doubt, drink more wine.
May 2, 2012 at 5:09 pm
I agree with Ifa. I like to think we’re talking psychic ovaries.
May 2, 2012 at 5:40 pm
Bookmole, the fact that you thought about that made me love you a little.
May 2, 2012 at 2:45 pm
Mermaids and feathers. Those don’t really mix well.
May 2, 2012 at 2:45 pm
Most of these are terrible, but the mermaid headdress looks like it’s for tribal fusion belly dance, so it’s an appropriate label. I’d wear it.
May 2, 2012 at 2:45 pm
I’m sure these people got their idea of “tribal” from old cartoons and Tumblr.
But I’m also white as fuck so I dunno if I even have a place to talk here.
May 2, 2012 at 5:41 pm
Being white doesn’t actually occlude your ability to recognize racism/colonialism/cultural appropriation when you see it. That’s being a douchebag that does that. :p
June 22, 2012 at 6:26 pm
+1 internets for you!
<— white chick, embarrassed by my people on a daily basis.
May 2, 2012 at 2:48 pm
I like the mermaid one (tho the mannequin is pretty creepy)
May 2, 2012 at 2:48 pm
If there was a traditional indigenous culture where more than two people wore some of these things, I bet it was mocked into extinction by neighboring tribes within a month
“Tribal” apparently now means “Silly Hat”. Either that or “Steampunk”
I have to check Urban dictionary
May 2, 2012 at 4:59 pm
Discerning the sorts of silly hats:
If it has feathers and beads, it’s tribal.
If it’s gears and lace, it’s steampunk.
If it’s fuzzy and tie-dyed, it’s hippie or rave or psychedelic.
Anyone else?
May 2, 2012 at 5:43 pm
If it can also be used as a pouch, it’s Renaissance.
May 2, 2012 at 5:44 pm
If it’s very tiny, it’s whimsicle.
If it’s very large, it’s couture.
If it has a long narrow tail or a puffball, it’s elvish.
May 2, 2012 at 10:42 pm
I lover this1 It’s like learning to speak real estate (charming, fixer-upper, view of the water, etc.)
May 2, 2012 at 2:48 pm
I actually thought the horse pillow wasn’t that bad. Good way to reuse some of the old stuffed animals…but the rest of that stuff isn’t even close to being “tribal”. And the people who made it are the least able to tell what “tribal” is. Morons.
May 2, 2012 at 2:49 pm
I’m also not seeing “skulls” and “tribal” on that pillow fabric. Ok, she’s batshit crazy too.
May 2, 2012 at 2:53 pm
Making stuffed animal taxidermy wasn’t enough to qualify her as batshit crazy?
May 3, 2012 at 3:45 pm
Point…perhaps CALLING it stuffed animal taxidermy is the problem.
May 2, 2012 at 2:55 pm
the new “tribal” tattoo
May 2, 2012 at 3:10 pm
I hear the Herringbone Tribe has a long standing alliance with the Argyle Tribe.
May 2, 2012 at 3:20 pm
They’re constantly at war with the Houndstoothians though
May 2, 2012 at 3:30 pm
They’re the colonial oppressors of the Paisley Tribe, though
May 2, 2012 at 3:32 pm
Argyle tribe? My people!
May 2, 2012 at 3:40 pm
I’m 1/2 Plaid and my people are a very colorful tribe. No two are alike. And Ted Baxter is our god.
May 2, 2012 at 4:12 pm
I think Coco Chanel just spun in her grave over that ink.
May 2, 2012 at 8:04 pm
Tribal tattoos are for people who don’t know what art is.
May 2, 2012 at 9:18 pm
I want to know why people need to “upcycle” stuffies. Just donate them to a child who will love them the way they are!
May 2, 2012 at 11:52 pm
The dog got them?
May 3, 2012 at 2:28 am
Don’t donate stuffed toys to hospitals – they can’t sterilize them easily, so they end up having to ditch them. Or so I was told.
The best toys for them can stand going through the autoclave. Plastic is the best. Then wood.
May 2, 2012 at 2:53 pm
The headband in the last picture isn’t all that terrible, I mean I wouldn’t wear it but I don’t see much wrong with it…
… but why oh why do people continue to take a grainy photos of themselves in mirrors with background clutter? Don’t they realize it looks terrible and just leads to others mocking them?
May 2, 2012 at 3:34 pm
I feel that way about the FIRST picture. I mean its silly but I see that thing a lot here around San Francisco.
Course maybe thats my problem right there, my standards are all contaminated by long-term hipster exposure….
May 2, 2012 at 4:41 pm
Yeah, the first one’s not terrible. I see worse running around here in the Midwest.
May 2, 2012 at 11:25 pm
I just moved back to Kentucky after living in SF for four years. I’m working at a casino in Indiana and this bachelorette party came up from Louisville last weekend. As soon as I saw their asymmetric bangs I almost wet myself from glee. It was such a fantastic eyewash after staring the impossibly teased, permed, and broken (spiritually) hair of my fellow Midwesterners that I almost missed hipsters. Almost.
May 2, 2012 at 3:41 pm
I know! You’d think they would have learned from Anthony Weiner.
May 2, 2012 at 2:54 pm
The Bohemian Tribal number looks like the Thanksgiving art project they made us do in third grade.
It was a simpler, more racist era.
May 2, 2012 at 3:03 pm
That’s actually the one I don’t see a problem with. It actually kinda does look like the sort of thing you’d see at a pow-wow, and the girl wearing it is the only one in this entire line up who could pass as Native American.
But then again, I’m white and nerdy… what the hell do I know?
May 2, 2012 at 3:41 pm
Admittedly, I’m an extremely white girl who’s only been to two powwows, but I saw nothing like that at either.
May 2, 2012 at 8:02 pm
Lots of powpows, lots of … tee-shirts, ball caps, army jackets, Eddie Bauer anoraks. On people who are unquestionably native american. Navajo and Pueblo kids in Disney clothes with sno-cones; Plains dancers in competition wearing regalia including neon-pink dyed turkey tailfeathers; Apache grandmothers in housedresses from K-Mart and traditional, handmade, *tribal* boots. Those people would think all this “tribal” on Etsy was silly, not worth getting pissed off about.
May 2, 2012 at 3:00 pm
So headband worn horizontally on top of the hair = tribal. Got it.
May 2, 2012 at 3:05 pm
Actually… errrrr… *cowers under cushion awaiting onslaught of sad red thumbs* I actually really like the last one with the horns and stuff, it reminds me of traditional Mongolian headdresses – I’d buy it, but (a) it’s horrifically overpriced, and (b) let’s face it, I’m gonna look like a frigging moron wearing it to the supermarket on Saturday morning, innit X___X
May 2, 2012 at 3:53 pm
“For extravagant hats, season does not exist!”
I think you’d be fine.
May 2, 2012 at 3:06 pm
“Cultural appropriation”, lol! I also liked the tag’s logo.
May 2, 2012 at 3:08 pm
The first girl has freaking beautiful hair. It’s so pretty it almost overcomes the headband.
Were the hair and the headband in a cagematch, the hair would win by TKO. But then the hair, pretty as it is, would probably do some embarassing victory pose and ruin the moment.
May 2, 2012 at 3:11 pm
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May 2, 2012 at 3:26 pm
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May 2, 2012 at 3:32 pm
Neither do FJLs, so you know theres gotta be a lotta gingers around here, just statistically speaking.
May 3, 2012 at 3:51 pm
Plus the not actually gingers but probably should be due to personality quirks.
May 2, 2012 at 3:32 pm
My favorite part about the “gingers have no souls” foolishness, is that it was originally started to protest bigotry. Then it became it’s own bigotry.
I have a very Jewish friend who is legitimately scared of gingers, because he legitimately thinks they are evil/will eat his soul. I find this INCREDIBLY amusing.
May 2, 2012 at 3:45 pm
I know someone who is totes obsessed with Ann-Margret and would willingly GIVE his soul to her.
(You’re not kidding about your friend? I’ve never heard that about gingers. And I thought people who believe in the Illuminati and that lizard people walk amongst us are weird.)
May 2, 2012 at 4:01 pm
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May 2, 2012 at 4:06 pm
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May 2, 2012 at 4:23 pm
He’s not legitimately scared.
If every single readhead he’s ever encountered has tried to murder him, then his fear would be legitimate.
As it stands, his fear is irrational.
Not to be all fingerwaggy, but that was bothering me.
May 2, 2012 at 5:46 pm
I have Jewish friends who ARE gingers… We need to get these people in the same room.
June 22, 2012 at 6:54 pm
I know lots of Jews (including me) who are gingers. In my community we have a whole family of them, and we call them the Jew-Weasleys.
May 2, 2012 at 6:25 pm
Kyle? Oh wait, he’s a daywalker…
May 2, 2012 at 11:35 pm
Saying that it’s gross makes you seem like a bigot. Gingers (are hot) people too.
May 2, 2012 at 4:21 pm
Actually, as a ginger-blend (it’s in my blood and popped out all over in the family) and mother of future gingers since my love is a ginger, I’d like to say that it’s the fact that I plan to raise them catholic, and not the hair color, that will eradicate their souls.
FWIW, our D&D group makes the “gingers have no souls” joke so many times that actually, my Ginger really resents it and it bothers him.
May 2, 2012 at 4:33 pm
That is why we steal them. The resell market is fanfuckingtastic. You wouldn’t believe how much Keith Richards paid for a fresh one.
May 2, 2012 at 5:24 pm
I’ll bet that Prince Harry has a freaking warehouse full of them, just waiting for the day that his brother ascends the throne and Harry activates all his captured souls and stages a palace coup. It could happen. Don’t deny it. Don’t think we non-gingers aren’t on to your evil plans.
May 3, 2012 at 12:41 pm
Get your tribe right. She’s a Day Walker, not a true Ginger.
May 2, 2012 at 3:09 pm
I wonder if any of them knows what the word “tribe” means.
May 2, 2012 at 3:11 pm
“for extravagant hats season does not exist!”
It should, right between Pie season and Peep season.
May 2, 2012 at 5:47 pm
Excuse me. It is ALWAYS extravagant hat season!
May 2, 2012 at 3:18 pm
Is the mermaid one on a mannequin head or is that a human face that’s been photoshopped into next week? I’m honestly not sure…
May 2, 2012 at 3:19 pm
I am most surprised at the fact that only one of the items cost more than $100.
May 2, 2012 at 3:20 pm
Wait, we’re playing “Etsy or Regretsy” again so soon? This one may be the toughest yet.
May 2, 2012 at 3:48 pm
Man, themed “Etsy or Regretsy” would be so hard. “Which of these trying-to-be-steampunk items is actually for sale?”
May 2, 2012 at 3:23 pm
Number next-to-last is a belt right? A belt you wear on your head? I think I had that belt in brown–which seems like a more tribal color to me.
May 2, 2012 at 5:00 pm
“I’d really like to find a head-belt that matches this dress.”
“You mean headBAND right?”
“No”
May 3, 2012 at 7:55 pm
head belt! makes me think of Doug, Quail Man and my sweet 90s childhood. yay.
May 2, 2012 at 3:23 pm
What the Na’vi would have looked like had they been orange instead of blue.
May 2, 2012 at 3:30 pm
Gah….this is the exact reason I stopped perusing Etsy….and what led me to your lovely site…..the misuse of ‘Native American inspired’ and tribal, slapped on anything that has some leather or feathers. Gaawanaadizid!
May 2, 2012 at 5:00 pm
“In the Great American Indian novel,
when it is finally written,
all of the white people will be Indians
and all of the Indians
will be ghosts.” – Sherman Alexie
May 2, 2012 at 5:16 pm
One of my favourites…..second only to:
“There is no history book with my story,
There is no newspaper to give me my glory.
because no one has heard this language in years….
cept Kokopelli, dreamcatchers and a trail of beers.”
-ryan red corn
May 2, 2012 at 5:18 pm
Wow, that’s a good one.
Damn.
May 2, 2012 at 9:36 pm
represent! love the 1491′s!
May 2, 2012 at 3:40 pm
I’m distracted by the tribal mermaid headdress. Everyone knows Merfolk live in Kingdoms…jeeze.
May 2, 2012 at 3:44 pm
I think the first one is rather nice, but the rest of them, not so much.
I’m particularly baffled by the pillow horse. Why is the more detailed and colorful fabric facing the ass-end of the stuffed horse, shouldn’t that be on the front? Why do you think skulls and houndstooth go with a horse? Why did you put a stuffed horse in a pillow?!
May 2, 2012 at 4:22 pm
I agree. I like the first one. I don’t think it’s tribal, but I like it and I know my roommate would probably wear it.
May 2, 2012 at 3:49 pm
The first one is really cutting into her forehead.
May 2, 2012 at 4:45 pm
It symbolizes the pain of the Indians.
May 2, 2012 at 3:53 pm
May the Great Trickster strangle them all with their own tassels.
May 2, 2012 at 7:00 pm
Loki?
May 3, 2012 at 10:22 pm
Well, I don’t know if I’m Great exactly, but I do love to garrote me some confused neo-hippies…
May 2, 2012 at 4:01 pm
Nothing says “tribal” like houndstooth. NOTHING.
May 2, 2012 at 4:03 pm
Alright, which one of you fuckers bought the pillow taxidermy?
May 3, 2012 at 9:09 am
I did! It’s going to be in my office, scaring the shit out of my undergrads, FOR. EVER.
May 2, 2012 at 4:08 pm
Racism is cool when you’re selling it.
May 2, 2012 at 4:13 pm
Colored feathers?
Give me back Harold Oaksternuts!
May 2, 2012 at 4:24 pm
Melissa Gilbert looks pretty upset that her Paw made her tie that wax furniture string contraption on her head. She prefers braids, apparently.
CF4L, bitches.
May 2, 2012 at 4:25 pm
Yeah nothing says “tribal amazonian” more than Invader Zim tattoos.
May 2, 2012 at 4:33 pm
Tribal. It does not mean what you think it means, sellers.
May 2, 2012 at 4:36 pm
If by “Feeling like an Amazon?” means you are asking me, if I only have one boob and am looking to go to war for my magic girdle. Then yes. But your macramé bikini top is not the appropriate attire for kicking ass and enslaving men.
May 2, 2012 at 5:56 pm
The one boob thing is a myth the one boob thing is a myth the one boob thing is a myth …
Oh. Sarcasm. I get it now. :”>
May 2, 2012 at 9:01 pm
Aren’t, um…Amazons a myth?
May 2, 2012 at 9:33 pm
There is speculation based on archaeological findings that the myth sprung up from a very real group of warrior women. Yay!
May 2, 2012 at 6:36 pm
If we all become Amazons, do we get to fly like Wonder Woman? Or at least get an invisible jet?
Sorry, my comicbook nerd is showing.
May 2, 2012 at 4:42 pm
A Mermaid Tribal Headdress is an essential when dressing up your Real Doll sex friend.
May 2, 2012 at 4:58 pm
FORTY FIVE FRICKIN’ DOLLARS FOR A LANYARD AND SOME WOODEN BEADS?
Well, apparently my skills learned at camp won’t go to waste … I’m gonna open me an Etsy store and sell me some hippie hippie headbands … dayum!
May 2, 2012 at 5:00 pm
Okay, why hasn’t anybody mentioned yet that the crecheted ivy top worn by Princess Zimbajingo is designed for women with FOUR breasts?
May 2, 2012 at 5:01 pm
Crocheted. Damn you, autocorrect!
May 2, 2012 at 5:01 pm
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/how-to-write-the-great-american-indian-novel/
May 2, 2012 at 5:02 pm
Serious question here- is the woman in the second picture pregnant? I’m sorry but the idea that these people are reproducing is horrifying
May 2, 2012 at 5:10 pm
I think that’s just the way she’s standing. No, I really *hope* it’s just the way she’s standing.
May 2, 2012 at 6:15 pm
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May 2, 2012 at 5:13 pm
May 2, 2012 at 5:21 pm
wow. this is.
this is just wonderful.
May 2, 2012 at 5:27 pm
I don’t remember an Oscar™ being in that scene. Nice touch!
May 2, 2012 at 6:33 pm
Subliminal messaging?
“Give us an Oooossssccccaaarrrr..”
May 2, 2012 at 5:17 pm
I really like your Boho Headband–Amazon Jungle Princess–hair feather-tribal headdress-hippie summer jewelry, but my religion doesn’t hyphens, sorry.
May 2, 2012 at 5:40 pm
I kinda like the horse pillow and the skulls are on a tribal background.
As for the rest – I’m more appalled at how over priced they are.
May 2, 2012 at 5:54 pm
I kinda like the drapery fringe hat things. They remind me of these horse bridles
I get kinda sad when I realize that horses are dressing better than I am.
May 3, 2012 at 6:38 am
The fringes (and bells) keep away the evil spirits. However, in the context of Etsy, they attract large numbers of preposterously indignant hipster trash in order for them to be collectively labelled as a, “Tribe.”
May 3, 2012 at 9:25 am
I thought the fringe was to keep flies out of their eyes (much like the mane does)
May 2, 2012 at 6:02 pm
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May 2, 2012 at 6:46 pm
Pipe down, hippie.
May 2, 2012 at 7:05 pm
Shouldn’t that be “put the pipe down”?
May 2, 2012 at 7:35 pm
Their name IS ganja87. Let me guess, favorite pasttime and birth year?
May 2, 2012 at 7:02 pm
They aren’t made by actual tribal members?
Here I was, thinking that some poor deluded tribal member was really making these, getting ready for some humorous tribal festival somewhere, selling them in a desperate plea to bring awareness of faux tribal items.
You have ruined my whole day!
May 3, 2012 at 8:35 am
I was wondering precisely what festival these people are getting ready for
and then I realized Burning Man’s in a couple of months
May 2, 2012 at 7:32 pm
I’d like to know what an “actual tribe” is. Tribe of what? Like there’s only one kind?
May 2, 2012 at 8:05 pm
I smell a hurt butt
May 3, 2012 at 6:45 am
So, what you’re really trying to say is (I had to extrapolate a bit – grammar/usage nazi that I am) this:
You’re trying to sell some humorous tribal bullshit but you only have negative and dumbass shit to say, and we can see how awesome and inspiring you [sic] are.
Gotcha!
May 3, 2012 at 7:01 am
Hypocrite.
May 3, 2012 at 3:57 pm
oooh, think we have a seller here…
May 2, 2012 at 6:22 pm
These outfits need to be accessorized with “Good Luck” Swastikas.
May 2, 2012 at 6:34 pm
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May 2, 2012 at 7:02 pm
“Native Turquoise Tribal Headdress Headpiece,” also known as “Bullshit Five-Dollar Upcycled Repurposed Broken Wal-Mart Fake Suede Belt On Some Bitch’s Head.”
May 2, 2012 at 7:03 pm
Not to be an arse (OK, I’m being an arse!), but who is the mermaid one offensive to exactly?
May 2, 2012 at 7:27 pm
Native American mermaids.
May 2, 2012 at 7:31 pm
Despite popular opinion, mermaids are quite universal and Disney didn’t invent them.
May 2, 2012 at 7:35 pm
Nobody said that Disney did, I was merely pointing out that it was that Native American mermaids that would be offended, as opposed to the mermaids of other cultures.
May 2, 2012 at 7:35 pm
but defiitely touche.
May 2, 2012 at 7:30 pm
People with taste?
May 2, 2012 at 7:31 pm
Nobody. It’s just weird.
May 2, 2012 at 7:26 pm
When I see “yarns” I read it as “yams”, so I thought that last one was made with colorful yams, which really would have explained the, er, horns a bit better. Maybe.
May 2, 2012 at 7:59 pm
I’m almost more furious about calling that pillow “taxidermy” than I am about the other shit. Maybe that says something petty about me, but REALLY?!
Taxidermy? Tribal? What the fuck tribe cut apart stuffed animals and sewed them onto pillows?
May 2, 2012 at 8:11 pm
FAKESedermy. FAKESedermists. I thought Regretsy settled that months ago. They’re a tribe in the Land of Etsy
May 2, 2012 at 7:59 pm
How is it that these people that make this shit often seem to get really attractive women to model this crap?
May 2, 2012 at 8:00 pm
The first offender is butthurt in the fora
http://www.etsy.com/teams/7722/business-topics/discuss/10238247/
May 2, 2012 at 8:12 pm
Nice find!
“Regretsy is a tiny blip in the radar screen of the internet; hardly anyone will see it”
May 2, 2012 at 8:21 pm
yeah, some people will tell themselves anything to make themselves feel better.
May 2, 2012 at 8:48 pm
“Hi everyone,
I sense this one is spinning out of control. I’ll just close it before it reaches terminal velocity. Thank you all!”
The admin has spoken.
May 2, 2012 at 8:52 pm
What always makes me laugh are the people who think they are so much better than Regretsy. It’s like – yeah, yeah, they’re evil so I can be mean, rude and nasty about them because it doesn’t count, because they are evil.
May 2, 2012 at 9:23 pm
I’ve seen way worse butthurt. It’s that Brandi commenter that annoys me. In addition to what pearlheartgtr quoted, she had this gem of a post:
“Nope. It’s positive attention or NO attention for me. And I do love attention….:)
Don’t take it as a critique; it’s not. Just an opinion.”
Ummm… critique. I do not think it means what you think it means…
May 2, 2012 at 9:28 pm
“No, no, no! No good sports! Stop being reasonable! Temper tantrum all the way, baby!”
Wow. Part of me doesn’t want to hurt Brandi’s feelings either, and part of me wants to see the shitstorm that may occur if she sees us making fun of her. As for the girl who made the headband, I don’t want to hurt her feelings. She seems like a nice enough girl, and at least didn’t throw a huge fit. She even considered that she may be overreacting. That shows some introspection, which some of the other cupcakes appear to be greatly lacking.
May 2, 2012 at 9:32 pm
I agree. She fucking gets on my nerves ALL THE TIME.
May 2, 2012 at 10:02 pm
Brandi again:
“Oh, I’d send an email. And a poisoned apple. Ok; the poison might be overboard. I keep thinking that I’m going to get featured just for talking about how much I don’t like Regretsy. I’m gonna practice my best “Go ahead….make my day!”.”
I guess in a way, I am showing her on Regretsy because of how much she talks about it. But she’s fooling herself if she thinks she’s gonna get featured. We feature fuckery, not mildly annoying people.
May 3, 2012 at 9:23 am
Brandi: “Because I’m a middle child…can’t you tell?
”
just doesn’t even begin to explain it all.
May 2, 2012 at 9:31 pm
The OP keeps getting better in my eyes. In response to Brandi:
“Hehehe—I know a thing or two about temper tantrums–I have a two year old! But I’m trying to keep my head up and laugh it off. I can’t think of anything clever to add to the forum though, and I’m not sure I’m brave enough to even go there…”
She at least tries to be dignified. I’m not even certain if her posts should be considered butthurt.
May 2, 2012 at 9:34 pm
No, she didn’t get butt-hurt after all! I posted the link before I had time to actually read it – MY toddlers were throwing tantrums about going to bed.
May 2, 2012 at 10:07 pm
I thought I was going to be the featured butthurt for all my sanctimonious ranting. Alas, it won’t be so.
May 2, 2012 at 10:09 pm
Never say never.
May 2, 2012 at 10:11 pm
Don’t tease! I want to be Regretsied!
May 2, 2012 at 9:42 pm
Or Pattie’s comment about Saint Helen and the Mafia – but she’s way better than us FJL though – how do spell hypocrite – P-A-T-T-I-E.
May 3, 2012 at 4:10 pm
Oh, no, there’s butthurt now…
May 2, 2012 at 8:05 pm
That first one isn’t bad. Not my style, but my hippie friends love stuff like that. The last time I had a feather in my hair I was 11 and skating at a roller rink to the J. Geil’s Band’s greatest hits.
And it’s still better than that shit Mariana “Collective” Schechter sells.
May 2, 2012 at 8:23 pm
i’m glad to see i’m not the only one that kinda-of-sort-of-regrettably likes the first one. as many have been said, i wouldn’t wear it… but in addition to being well-constructed, the colors and elements are playing well off of one another.
or maybe i’ve just been living in portland too long.
or maybe the girl just has really pretty hair.
May 2, 2012 at 10:15 pm
I really like a lot of stuff in her shop. Given her lack of butthurt (false butthurt alarm, if you will) in the Etsy forums, she’ll probably make a lot of sales.
May 2, 2012 at 8:24 pm
I’m shocked there’s no terrible Maori-inspired anything here.
Also, the butthurt going on here is great. Everyone keep it up, I have two bottles of homemade Elderflower mead to get through.
May 2, 2012 at 8:28 pm
It’s fun when people take themselves and things way too seriously.
May 2, 2012 at 8:30 pm
Mead sounds good. I recently unearthed a few bottles I had made several years ago (no labels mind you!). Maybe I’ll pop the cork on one and see if it aged well or became a really good vinegar.
May 2, 2012 at 9:05 pm
The first photo awakens two very different types of memories:
1)Of actual Peruvian jungle towns where a gringo can actually buy something very similar to this for about 5 dollars (made by local mostly-unemployed hippie gringos).
2)Of Hugo Weaving.
May 2, 2012 at 9:12 pm
I was going to make some smart ass comment about how I can’t wait until blackface comes back in style, but then I remember all the vintage sambo-esque crap the hipsters are selling on etsy. Then I was going to make some joke about how auschwitz-chic should be hip next season but I just can’t find the snark.
As a native-mixed blood, I want to cry for the kids I work with every day. I thought this might be coming (saw some people calling out the troops on Beyond Buckskin) and I hope it does something to raise awareness of how horrific the trend is.
What most people don’t realize is not only is it tasteless, it’s also illegal. The Indian Arts & Crafts law was meant to be protection against exactly this type of crap. I call ‘complicit party’ on Etsy management. I’ve finally got a reply about the issue from Ms. Gorman. I hope they really address it this time.
I hope the Navajo Nation enforces their trademark with all the navajo name ripoff there, too. Trademarked!
May 2, 2012 at 9:15 pm
Have you seen the video by DW Diaz on youtube? Its called Genocide Chic…soooo funny…but at the end she gives a nod to her next line…Concentration Couture.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDku3BPkUos
May 2, 2012 at 9:43 pm
I did and laughed through the tears! It’s a good one
I also like the feature on the shoe-shopping at Journeyz….should be required watching material. I can’t find it, though 
They might have had to take it down for some reason.
May 2, 2012 at 10:09 pm
I always wonder about this. I am sure if someone got a lawyer to address this, Etsy would make some sort of rules about it? It’s for sure illegal.
May 2, 2012 at 10:20 pm
How about this one? How is this even remotely American Indian in the first place, much less Navajo?
Also, sideboob.
http://www.etsy.com/listing/97734800/crop-top-tank-tie-dyed-boho-navajo?ref=sr_gallery_7&ga_search_query=navajo&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_ship_to=ZZ&ga_min=0&ga_max=0&ga_search_type=handmade
May 2, 2012 at 10:23 pm
Oh for the love of fuck, the same seller, and design: http://www.etsy.com/listing/97137766/crop-top-tank-tie-dyed-boho-navajo?ref=sr_gallery_7&ga_search_query=navajo&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_ship_to=ZZ&ga_min=0&ga_max=0&ga_page=2&ga_search_type=handmade
The last one I thought maybe she meant the colors, but this?
May 2, 2012 at 10:29 pm
More from that shop!
Because when I think Navajo, I think rainbow tie dye:
http://www.etsy.com/listing/92865818/crop-top-boho-navajo-hippie-tie-dyed-l
The fabric is Navajo inspired? I sincerely doubt you made the fabric, so how would you know? And if it’s mass produced, that company may (hopefully) be in for a shitstorm
http://www.etsy.com/listing/98960997/high-waisted-shorts-navajo-pockets-size
Fuck it, I’m posting the search results for “Navajo” in that shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/UnraveledClothing/search?search_query=navajo&search_submit=&search_type=user_shop_ttt_id_6228491&shopname=UnraveledClothing
May 3, 2012 at 4:39 am
What the seller doesn’t realize (I hope) is that the Navajo have taken out a copyright on the word Navajo….to prevent this exact thing…..the use of a term that means something to them, being slapped all over something that has nothing to do with them. That is what it has come to in this day and age….we need to copyright our Nation’s names.
May 2, 2012 at 10:31 pm
Illegal, too. You could report her.
May 2, 2012 at 10:33 pm
That is the common ‘trailer park’ tribe, also called ‘white trash’.
And before the butthurt continues: I done lived in one of them thar trailer parks, and there sure as hell were some trashy people. Your mileage may vary
May 2, 2012 at 9:37 pm
Heroin + feathers = horned “indie fashion?”
May 2, 2012 at 9:48 pm
I feel somewhat odd. I always thought “Tribal” was just a made up term for stylized tattoos and sort of rustic-punk, the same way ‘steampunk’ was made up for anachronistic Victorian era stuff. Now I’m all sad.
May 2, 2012 at 10:31 pm
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
May 2, 2012 at 10:32 pm
woah wrong place! Sorry!
May 2, 2012 at 10:30 pm
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
May 2, 2012 at 10:39 pm
Amazons wear shoulder pads?
May 2, 2012 at 11:57 pm
I couldn’t help but read a bunch of the thread over at Etsy. Before you get all hurt, read what the post is about! It’s obviously about the use of the word “Tribal.” Several comments here were about how they liked the headband.
Also, really interesting comments by people who have been featured here (great one about having to admit they mis-used “Steampunk”) and another about how awful the internet can be and that Regretsy really isn’t evil. She should feel lucky it’s about her tagging and not her craft. She could actually learn something about appropriating cultures! Also, none of them (of the pages and pages I read) even mentioned the calling out of resellers that the whole Etsy community should be THANKFUL FOR. Ugh. At least the “victim” seems to be handling it well, even if a bunch of the people who responded are clearly idiots.
May 3, 2012 at 3:42 am
The model for the fourth item is cute.
Then I saw the price. It is not so cute.
May 3, 2012 at 9:58 am
Where is the litte “THAT’S RACIST” black kid when I need him?
May 3, 2012 at 10:31 am
Thank you SOOOO much for creating this post.
As a Native American artist on Etsy, I get so incredibly frustrated with the thrown-together crap people push as “Native.” Being included in treasuries is usually a good thing, but when it’s in a collection of this stuff it’s a double-edged sword. The only response I can make on etsy without getting myself in trouble (as has happened before) is say, “Thanks for including my Native-made ______ in your Native-inspired collection.” Most of my jewelry on etsy is contemporary, but I am a traditional beadworker and what really pisses me off is that even if you use traditional materials and techniques, you may not call your beaded earrings (or whatever) Native American/American Indian unless you’re an enrolled member of a federally recognized nation, according to the American Indian Arts and Crafts Act. You can get more info here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Arts_and_Craft_Act_of_1990
May 3, 2012 at 10:31 am
I actually really like the first one, but then again I’m a closet Hippie. I’d consider buying it but 30 bucks is more than I have to spend. So now I’m considering making one for myself
May 3, 2012 at 3:46 pm
I hate this hipster wannabe Native crap these kids keep on putting together with craft store feathers and hot glue. But there are WAY more problems right now that need to be attended to in ndn country than going nuts over this. Let’s talk about how many elders died over the winter from lack of heat, or the fact that we need to develop more outreach programs to help the families. So tired of my culture being raped but I can’t keep on with the internet wars on this. We got serious issues to think about. These asshole appropriators can answer to Spirit for this crap.
May 3, 2012 at 5:10 pm
@Luna
Okay look. As an Oglala Lakota woman I don’t care who looks into their family history to see if they have ndn relatives. Really what does it matter if you look? It doesn’t. If you find it, then okay, what will be the next step? How will you honor those relations? Let me tell you that, honoring them by wearing fake regalia and chicken feathers, attending pow wow and acting stupid, is not going to sit well with your ancestors. So you have a bit of ndn blood in ya, but that does not mean you automatically become the ndn of today whose struggles are not your struggles. See. You can’t claim something as yours when you haven’t lived among your people. Now you want to know something. OKAY, go to the reservation and ask to speak with an elder. Find out from the source how YOU respect your ancestors. ACCEPT what they say. Stay away from crazy new age appropriators like Suraj Holzworth. Don’t PRETEND you are something you are not.
May 5, 2012 at 10:22 pm
Oh dear, I read the thread over there, and stopped dead when I came upon this gem:
The Registry!!! Bwahahahaha!
No wonder the mod closed it down. How do you follow that one?
May 26, 2012 at 8:57 pm
argh. not sure where this should go…cultural issues or not remotely steampunk… or not remotely handmade ?
http://www.etsy.com/listing/98768221/steampunk-indian-tribe-chief-portrait